/ 27 June 2009

Behind Ramatlhodi’s front

Ngoako Ramatlhodi’s secret Bushveld farm really was his, but his friend who fronted for him bankrolled it too — before sharing in casino rights awarded by the Limpopo government, where Ramatlhodi was premier.

Ramatlhodi, now chairperson of Parliament’s justice committee, is tipped for the position of national director of public prosecutions.

The Mail & Guardian earlier this month revealed Ramatlhodi’s hush-hush role in the 1996 purchase of a farm near Mokopane, while he was premier. It was sold two-and-a-half years later to Anglo Platinum for the controversial resettlement of communities, at a face-value profit of R1-million.

Ramatlhodi’s role was obscured by the fact that the buyer was a close corporation owned on paper by his friend, Limpopo businessperson Joe Mogodi. Ramatlhodi volunteered that he was the true owner during a long-running Scorpions probe, since closed, into allegations that he took bribes from a social grants contractor. Mogodi, however, insisted to the M&G that he was the owner.

The records of an October 2000 North Gauteng High Court hearing, in which First National Bank sued Ramatlhodi for debt, reveal:

  • FNB, which extended the loan to purchase the farm, knew Ramatlhodi was the true owner;
  • In correspondence with the bank Mogodi confirmed he was merely Ramatlhodi’s ”go-between”;
  • Ramatlhodi’s salary as premier was insufficient to meet FNB’s instalments; and
  • Mogodi paid hundreds of thousands of rands to cover the instalments and settle debt, leaving him in a ”financial predicament”.

Mogodi, in other words, bent over backwards to fund the purchase of the farm for Ramatlhodi. During this time Mogodi vied for a casino licence, which was ultimately awarded to a consortium including him.

Completing the circle, the provincial gambling board that awarded the licence was headed by Seth Nthai — Ramatlhodi’s personal advocate who defended him against the FNB debt claim. From the facts of that dispute, Nthai would have known that Mogodi had bankrolled the farm for the premier.

Mogodi declined to comment. Ramatlhodi and Nthai failed to comment by the time of going to press.

Genesis of dispute
Ngoako Properties, the close corporation owned on paper by Mogodi, offered R2.2-million to buy Sterkwater-De Hoogedoorns farm, plus a further R600 000 for cattle and implements, in January 1996. The offer was accepted.

FNB approved a five-year loan of R2.8-million to fund the purchase. Both Mogodi and Ramatlhodi signed surety.

But Mogodi may not have been fully aware of what he had let himself in for. The record of the FNB-Ramatlhodi hearing reflects FNB’s Polokwane bank manager, Hendrik Janse van Rensburg, writing to his regional head office in April 1996: ”We enclose the premier’s balance sheet and we confirm that he signed the letter of suretyship — Repayment of the loan was discussed with him and he referred us to Mr Mogodi.”

Three years later, once things had gone belly-up, Van Rensburg reported to his regional office: ”During March 1996 the premier approached the bank for a 100% long-term loan of R2.8-million — The bank approved the loan subject to the condition that the term of the loan be reduced to five years …

”The premier could not register the farm property in his name in view of his position as premier, and he requested his personal friend, Mr J Mogodi, to register the close corporation in his name —

”[Regional office instructed us] to request Mr Mogodi to sign a letter of suretyship and register a bond over his [own] farm property. He reluctantly agreed, informing us as follows: he was not even present when the financing of the farm had been discussed —

”Mr Mogodi has serviced the instalments from the loan account without any financial assistance from the premier. He was eventually forced to surrender his endowment policies and MIA [managed investment account] to continue with his trading activities.”

From the start, Van Rensburg’s reports show, Mogodi attempted to negotiate a lighter burden with FNB. The monthly instalments were R55 000 a month.

In arrears
By early 1997 Mogodi had, on Van Rensburg’s evidence, already put in R300 000 of his own money, but the loan account was in arrears. An FNB agricultural adviser proposed selling off less viable portions of the farm, but Mogodi, according to another Van Rensburg report, informed them: ”He [Ramatlhodi] has decided to keep the farm property.”

Mogodi also told the bank they could only afford to repay at a rate of R35 000 to R40 000 a month, consisting of R20 000 (Mogodi), R10 000 (Ramatlhodi) and R5 000 to R10 000 (farm income).

That Ramatlhodi could never have intended to pay the entire loan from his salary is clear: as late as 2004, Ramatlhodi grossed less than R60 000 a month. His net salary would have been well below FNB’s R55 000 instalments.

The loan account fell further into arrears. In September 1997 cattle and implements were auctioned. When Angloplat made an offer of R3.2-million for the farm property in September 1998 it was accepted.

The profit went straight to FNB, but the loan account was so far in arrears that FNB demanded Mogodi and Ramatlhodi pay a shortfall of more than R1-million.

Mogodi eventually paid R375 000 and FNB let him off, but it sued Ramatlhodi for the balance. After the first day of the trial, in October 2000, FNB and Ramatlhodi settled. The details are not known.

On the available evidence, Mogodi’s R375 000 brought his total contribution towards Ramatlhodi’s farm to at least R675 000, and potentially much more. Did he get anything in return?

Although the full circumstances are not known, Mogodi soon benefited from a casino licence. This is made problematic by the timing of the award and the dual role of Nthai, Ramatlhodi’s defence advocate in the FNB matter.