News24 reports that according to Lizeka Tonjeni, who is on trial in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria for allegedly accepting a R160,000 bribe, there was no culture of making formal financial disclosures at the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA).

She worked at MISA, which awarded a tender to the controversial Digital Vibes communications company in 2018. Tonjeni has pleaded not guilty, alleging that the money she received was from selling healthcare products. While giving her evidence on Thursday, Tonjeni explained why she never formally disclosed that she was making money outside the workplace by selling healthcare products. Tonjeni's version was that there was an informal disclosure to the CEO because she had sold products to his wife. She testified that the government department did not stress about making such disclosures because they were in the habit of selling things to each other at MISA. Tonjeni claimed this was the norm at the department and she also referenced how the CEO had bought a suit for the CFO, without knowing whether or not that side business had been declared. She added that the "side hustles" were no secret. It was understood that disclosures were only needed when you worked at a state department, and were conducting business with the government, that a conflict of interest might arise. The State previously led evidence that Tonjeni had made no formal disclosure of remunerative work she conducted outside the workplace.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Mitchley at News24

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