City Press reports that former Department of Labour and Employment (DEL) director-general (DG) Thobile Lamati claims he is the victim in a controversial scheme to channel billions from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) into a private investment company.
Lamati resigned from his post via WhatsApp on Wednesday in the wake of the scandal regarding the scheme, which involved a R5 billion transaction – part loan and part grant funding – with Thuja Capital, owned by businessperson Mthunzi Mdwaba. In a farewell message to staff, Lamati, who worked for the department for 25 years, said his resignation had been triggered by the scandal, but was not an admission of guilt. Instead, he suggested that his stepping down was to protect the department – which he said had become home to him – from reputational damage. He added that his own safety had been compromised after his office had been broken into. Lamati ranted that he had been a victim of unscrupulous journalists out to get him, claiming that some of them had been hired to do so. Thuja Capital was hastily registered less than a year ago, shortly before Lamati and UIF commissioner Teboho Maruping pushed for the deal to happen. The former DG confirmed having approved the project, saying it offered greater prospects of employment to millions of jobless people.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at City Press
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