Revealed: Brian Molefe’s alleged State Capture era ‘slush fund’

A months-long Daily Maverick investigation, supported by bank statements and other pertinent records, sheds light on an apparent “slush fund” that allegedly helped ex-Transnet and Eskom boss Brian Molefe pay for a range of lifestyle expenses.

Palcocap (Pty) Ltd, a company that received millions of rands in mysterious cash deposits during the State Capture years, helped pay for Molefe’s swanky wedding in 2016, among other questionable transactions. The wedding expenses were covered with some of the unexplained cash deposits.

Molefe, once celebrated as one of the country’s brightest CEOs before his widely reported entanglement with the State Capture project under former president Jacob Zuma, has continued a career in politics with the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party. Molefe served as an MP from August 2024 until earlier this month, when he became the party’s treasurer.

Daily Maverick will detail several suspicious Molefe-linked payments made from the Palcocap account between November 2013 and July 2018, a period during which Molefe would have been receiving a salary from either Transnet or Eskom. He left Eskom in January 2017 after then-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela implicated him in suspicious dealings with the Gupta family.

A follow-up report will analyse more than R11-million in unexplained cash deposits that entered the Palcocap account in the corresponding period.

The manner in which this steady stream of unexplained monies entered the company’s account, together with Molefe’s links to the funds, begs us to ask: did the former Transnet and Eskom boss declare this mysterious source of income to the boards of the respective entities? Or could this have been cash from the Guptas or other State Capture players that consistently flowed into the Palcocap account?

Daily Maverick made several attempts to obtain Molefe’s comment.

We were given his cellphone number by Nhlamulo Ndhlela, a spokesperson for the MK party.

However, Molefe did not answer our calls, nor did he respond to queries sent via WhatsApp and another messaging platform.

Molefe is currently facing fraud and corruption charges relating to one of Transnet’s Gupta-linked locomotive tenders.

Business unusual

Palcocap (Pty) Ltd, now defunct, was a very unusual business, or so its financial records reveal.

In its heyday, by our calculation, the entity brought in roughly R3-million in “revenues” each year.

Despite its relatively lucrative earnings, however, it wasn’t registered for value-added tax (VAT).

The manner in which Palcocap received its “income” is even more suspicious.

Between November 2013 and October 2018 the entity received R12.2-million in its FNB account. Roughly 93% of Palcocap’s “income”, a grand total of about R11.3-million, consisted of unexplained cash deposits.

Daily Maverick assessed Palcocap’s financial dealings on the back of bank records and related material. The records suggest that the company’s account had been used as a vehicle for alleged money laundering. As we’ll come to see, Molefe allegedly enjoyed substantial financial benefit from the Palcocap account.

‘Highly irregular’

A typical series of cash injections into the Palcocap account went like this: Between 16 and 20 October 2015, someone made 14 automated deposit teller (ADT) payments into the account, using FNB machines in several locations across Gauteng. The amounts varied between R5,000 and R20,000, netting Palcocap a total of more than R200,000. This pattern consistently repeated itself throughout the near five years.

Only a small fraction of Palcocap’s earnings, roughly R830,000, came via electronic transfers. As far as the inflows are concerned, the Palcocap account was mainly used as a vehicle for receiving large cash deposits.

Before we delve into Molefe’s apparent ties to the Palcocap funds, a quick word on the company’s “revenues”. The fact that Palcocap almost exclusively received cash payments presents a giant red flag. Regulators and forensic practitioners typically view unexplained cash deposits as an indicator of possible corruption and money laundering, especially when relatively high-value figures are involved.

“Receiving large cash payments as its sole income certainly isn’t normal or standard business practice for any company,” one forensic expert told Daily Maverick. He wished to remain anonymous. The expert went as far as calling the Palcocap transactions “highly irregular”.

The manner in which the cash was deposited into the Palcocap account is suspicious for another reason: the depositor or depositors routinely made series of deposits consisting of several smaller amounts that typically ranged between R5,000 and R20,000. These batches of deposits were made over two or three days and regularly totalled in excess of R200,000.

In money laundering terms, the practice of breaking larger amounts of money into smaller sums is referred to as structuring. The idea is to avoid regulatory scrutiny by turning large sums of illicit funds into less-noticeable figures.

So, how does Palcocap relate to Molefe, one of the figures most prominently tied to the Zuma-led State Capture project? And on what grounds can we conclude that the Palcocap account served as a vehicle to allegedly gratify Molefe?

The Palcocap director

Before Palcocap was deregistered in 2024, the company’s sole director was one Regopotswe “Reggie” Maponya, a chartered accountant from Gauteng.

According to Maponya’s LinkedIn page, she holds a senior position at Broll Property Group, one of Africa’s largest commercial property services groups.

Maponya founded Palcocap in September 2011, seven months after Molefe took the reins as Transnet’s new CEO.

Molefe has no overt links to Palcocap, but the former SOE boss is linked to Maponya through several other entities. One such company is Karibu Farming, Molefe’s farming venture. When this entity was registered in 2016, Maponya served as its sole director. She resigned in 2019, at which point Molefe stepped in as the sole director. There are nine other instances where company directorships passed between Molefe and Maponya, hinting at a close business relationship between the two.

As far as the connection between Molefe and Maponya is concerned, however, the true devil lurks in the Palcocap account’s bank records.

Although Maponya was Palcocap’s sole director, a close inspection of the company’s bank records strongly suggests that the account functioned as a means to gratify Molefe.

Daily Maverick attempted to obtain Maponya’s input on the Palcocap account and the company’s financial links to Molefe.

In the end, we had to make do with this terse response, sent on WhatsApp: “Hi, I have nothing to say. Thanks.”

Molefe’s wedding

Clear evidence that Molefe tapped into Palcocap’s funds comes by way of payments the company made towards his wedding. On 15 December, the then Eskom boss was married to Arethur Molefe (née Moagi).

The ceremony took place at a hotel and wedding venue on the outskirts of Centurion in Gauteng.

The day before the wedding, someone started depositing large sums of cash into Palcocap’s FNB account. There were more deposits on the day of the wedding. In all, the unknown depositor paid R140,000 into the Palcocap account, by way of seven deposits of varying values.

On 15 December 2015, Palcocap transferred R83,000 to a business called Meletlo Celebrations, a well-known wedding planner based in Gauteng. Daily Maverick managed to confirm that the payment was for Molefe’s wedding.

Palcocap also made two payments totalling nearly R65,000 to the Velmoré Hotel & Spa, the venue for the Molefe wedding. It is understood that the payments also covered accommodation costs for the wedding party.

We reached out to Molefe’s wife for comment, but she did not respond.

Meanwhile, it seems plausible that Reggie Maponya, Palcocap’s sole director, attended the wedding. On the day of the celebrations, Maponya posted a photo on Instagram with the following caption: “Wedding things with my beautiful sister.”

Arethur Molefe responded to the post with a string of emoticons.

More money for Molefe

Another example of Palcocap using its cash “revenues” for Molefe’s benefit takes us back to February 2015. At the time, Molefe was still Transnet’s CEO, but he was about to make his move to Eskom.

On 4 and 5 February that year, someone made nine cash deposits into Palcocap’s FNB account, totalling nearly R62,000.

Two days after the final deposit, Palcocap transferred R13,517.19 to a company called Chippy Projects, with the payment reference “Pvt1 B Molefe”.

Daily Maverick tracked down a representative of Chippy Projects, who confirmed that the business had provided catering services for Molefe and his family.

“We were doing work for Transnet at the time, which was how Brian got hold of us. We did the catering services for his children’s birthday parties and for other private events,” said the source, who asked us not to print his name.

Palcocap’s bank statements are awash with more examples that explicitly list Molefe in the respective payment references.

For instance, on 11 February 2016, Palcocap transferred R15,907 to an entity called Westline Aviation. The name “Brian Molefe” appears in the next column, meaning Westline Aviation would have received Molefe’s name and surname as its payment reference.

A day later, Palcocap made a real-time clearing (RTC) payment of R5,000 to a third-party account. The payment reference, again, was “Brian Molefe”.

The latter two Molefe-linked transfers followed hot on the heels of a series of cash deposits into the Palcocap account. On 1 February 2016, someone deposited R11,900 and R18,400 into the account, using an FNB machine in Hartbeespoort.

Further cash deposits followed over the ensuing days. On 8 February 2016, someone used an FNB machine in Centurion to deposit R19,300 and R19,600 into the account. An amount of R27,200 was deposited into the Palcocap account on 9 February, using an FNB ATM in Melrose Arch.

The combined value for the above deposits came to nearly R100,000. Someone was moving considerable sums of money into the Palcocap account.

By all appearances, portions of those funds were being used for Molefe’s benefit. Select transactions effected in early 2018 also included Molefe’s name and surname in the payment references.

The above transactions were by no means isolated examples of Molefe-linked transactions.

Apart from the transactions that referenced “Brian Molefe”, payments from the Palcocap account included more than 30 instances where “B Molefe”, “Brian M” or “Brian” featured in the statements. In total, Palcocap made payments totalling more than R450,000 that in one way or another referenced Molefe.

A further 20 payments, totalling nearly R115,000, reflected the letters “Bm” in the reference columns.

The Plett payments

Several Palcocap transactions strongly suggest that the company’s funds were also used for expenses relating to Molefe’s properties.

On 4 December 2015, Palcocap transferred R8,820 to a business called Rod’s Electrical, with “B Molefe Inv49” as the payment reference. According to a Google search, Rod’s Electrical was located in Plettenberg Bay, where Molefe happened to own property.

Other transactions in December 2015 further support the notion that Palcocap bankrolled costs related to Molefe’s properties in Plettenberg Bay.

On 4 December, the company transferred R2,656 to Plett Handigas, with “Invoice26106 Molefe” as the reference.

On 8 December 2015, Palcocap paid R10,769 to Beachyfide, a furniture manufacturer located in Plettenberg Bay’s industrial area. The reference for this transaction was “B Molefe”.

Around the time of the above transactions, someone routinely topped up Palcocap’s account with a steady stream of cash deposits.

Foreign travels

Another apparent link between Molefe and the Palcocap funds relates to the former Transnet and Eskom boss’s overseas trips, specifically during the height of State Capture.

Between June 2014 and October 2017, Molefe undertook 19 trips to foreign countries, as reflected in the relevant Home Affairs records. These documents reveal the destination country for each trip, as well as the departure and return dates.

Comparing the foreign trips to purchases from the Palcocap account was instructive, to say the least. On each of Molefe’s foreign trips, someone made point-of-sale (POS) purchases with Palcocap’s bank card at the very destinations Molefe was visiting. The total for those purchases that coincided with Molefe’s foreign trips amounts to more than R850,000.

On some occasions, someone paid for flight tickets from the Palcocap account very shortly before Molefe’s flights.

On 28 August 2014, Palcocap made two purchases from South African Airways (SAA), valued at R5,279 and R12,802. Three days later, Molefe boarded SAA flight SA186 to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Meanwhile, there were three payments with the Palcocap card in Dar es Salaam that overlapped with Molefe’s time in Tanzania. On 1 September 2014, someone used the company’s card at the Akemi Revolving Restaurant in downtown Dar, spending R7,962.

The following day, 2 September, the Palcocap card was used for payments of R18,784 and R1,161 at Dar’s Hyatt Regency hotel. On 3 September 2014, Molefe boarded SAA flight SA189 from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg.

Vamos Brazil!

According to Molefe’s travel records, the then Transnet boss travelled to Brazil on 5 February 2015, flying from Johannesburg to São Paulo on SAA flight SA222. On 8 February, the Palcocap card was used for a point-of-sale purchase worth R7,111 at the Sofitel Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.

Whoever was using the Palcocap card may have travelled between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on a flight from Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aéreas airline. A tiny international purchase of R21.40 was made with the Palcocap card on 11 February, reflecting the payment reference “Gol Linh As”.

On 11 February, Molefe flew from São Paulo to Johannesburg. The Palcocap card wasn’t used for any further purchases in Brazil after Molefe’s return to South Africa.

The UK splurge

June 2015 was a particularly busy month for the person or persons tasked with depositing cash into the Palcocap account. A total of R570,000 entered the company’s account during that month. This was done by means of 31 separate cash deposits. The funds were deposited at FNB machines in Centurion’s Irene Mall, at OR Tambo Airport and at Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg, among other locations.

It was just as well Palcocap was flush with cash, seeing as the company was entering a very costly period. Expensive tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament, hotel accommodation in the UK and tickets for international flights drained the company’s account. These expenses correlated with a trip Molefe took to the UK in the very same timeframe.

Between 4 and 9 June 2015, Palcocap made a series of payments to SAA, totalling R143,400. This was followed by payments to British Airways towards the end of that month, totalling R36,000.

Meanwhile, on 19 June, Palcocap transferred R62,734 to Get Me In, a reselling platform for Wimbledon tickets. Palcocap transferred an additional R54,466 to Get Me In on the 23rd of that month.

Brian Molefe flew from Johannesburg to London on 29 June, on SAA flight SA236. The following day, someone used the Palcocap bank card at the Wimbledon Championships, spending R7,127.

Further point-of-sale transactions in the UK during the ensuing days included purchases worth R11,329 at the Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London, plus hotel accommodation totalling more than R30,000.

The very last international card purchase during this period was made on 11 July 2015. Someone used Palcocap’s card to make purchases worth R14,599 from the Paul Anderson Golf Shop, located at the Berkshire Golf Club outside London. We can’t prove that it was Molefe who had made the purchases. However, it should be noted that the former SOE boss is known to be a keen golfer.

The following day, 12 July 2015, Molefe took SAA flight SA235 from London to Johannesburg. The next point-of-sale purchase with the Palcocap card was made in South Africa, on the day Molefe arrived back in the country. There were no further purchases in the UK.

Between 2014 and 2017, Molefe also travelled to the US, Germany, Mauritius, Hong Kong and India, among other destinations. On each of those trips, the Palcocap card was used for purchases in the countries Molefe was visiting.

We can’t say with certainty that it was Molefe who had swiped the Palcocap card while abroad, but the payments the company made towards his wedding and the catering company serve as indisputable evidence that the former Transnet and Eskom boss benefited from the company’s funds.

In our next instalment later this month, we will present a detailed analysis of the cash deposits that kept Palcocap so flush with cash. We’ll ask if Molefe himself had made some of the deposits, and whether the deposits included alleged cash bribes from the Guptas. DM

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Here’s the thing about corruption: it always leaves a trail. You can deny. You can obfuscate. You can screen our journalists’ calls. But you can’t make R11-million in unexplained cash deposits just … disappear.

Enter Pieter-Louis Myburgh, tracking Molefe through bank statements like a financial sniffer dog who’s locked on to something and won’t let go until he’s got it.

This level of investigative journalism is expensive. It takes time. It requires expertise. And it only exists because readers like you make it possible.

Become a Maverick Insider for R75/month and you’re directly funding the kind of dogged, determined journalism that the powerful desperately wish would just go away.

Because they can ignore the questions. But they can't ignore the bank statements. Click here to join the Insider family.