Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has hit back at business mogul Tokyo Sexwale, claiming that his story of a secret ‘Heritage Fund’ is questionable, to say the least.
What is the Heritage Fund and who runs it?
The ANC veteran appeared as a guest on eNCA‘s Truth to Power, a talk show hosted by the renowned JJ Tabane. There, Sexwale raised goosebumps when he revealed that, for the most part, South Africa’s inability to deal with key basic issues like providing free access to education was hampered by theft.
The 68-year-old told Tabane that he and the head of a very powerful South African family had been placed in charge of overseeing the activity of this ‘heritage’ fund, by an unknown international entity.
This fund, Sexwale explained, was meant to be channelled towards helping South Africa in its fight against Covid-19 and realising free education. However, a few weeks ago, it was discovered that a large sum of money had been stolen.
“The process was aimed at bringing the funds into our hands. In fact, we wanted to bring it to the economy of the country. We found some resistance. When we checked the resistance, we realised that part of the money has been stolen,” the 68-year-old businessman said.
Sexwale confirmed that a police investigation was launched two weeks ago to trace the whereabouts of the stolen money. Even more shocking, the ANC veteran claims former president Jacob Zuma was aware of the existence of such a fund, at the height of Fees Must Fall protests.
He also indicated that current President Cyril Ramaphosa is also aware of this pool of money earmarked for uplifting South Africans.
Tito Mboweni speaks: ‘This story is not true’
These comments, since the show’s airing on Sunday, may have shaken the country’s political realm but one perso isn’t buying it. Minister Mboweni took to Twitter, on Monday, to categorically state that Sexwale’s claims were untrue. In a tweet, the minister wrote:
Mr Tokyo Sexwale’s statement about stolen money is untrue, sad and seems that he was a victim of the many scams abound. You cannot steal transmitted money from the central bank. How? His statement on television was unfortunate. Will reach out to him.
— Tito Mboweni (@tito_mboweni) April 19, 2021
Sexwale has not resurfaced to provide clarity on this mysterious ‘Heritage Fund’ that is supposedly funnelled through the South African Reserve Bank.