South Africa’s billionaire business mogul and ANC veteran Tokyo Sexwale gathered the media inside a conference room, on Thursday, where he led a presentation of what he terms irrefutable facts about the mysterious Heritage Fund.
Tokyo Sexwale hits back at ‘Heritage Fund’ sceptics
Last week, Sexwale was the butt of jokes when the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released a statement, suggesting that the billionaire may have fallen victim to a popular fund scam.
“On investigation, the SARB can confirm that it had no record of the existence of the said fund and it had advised Mr Sexwale in writing that, given the SARB’s experience and knowledge of this and other similar matters, it could only conclude that the alleged fund was a scam. It should be noted that Mr Sexwale is not the first prominent person acting on behalf of a Mr Webb or an unknown donor, for such funds, and such requests can be traced to many years before 2016.
In an interview with J.J Tabane on Newzroom Afrika, the 68-year-old revealed that a secret fund that was set up by an international stakeholder was meant for funding free education in South Africa and assisting with Covid-19 relief efforts.
In a shocking turnout, Sexwale indicated that the fund had been pillaged, under the noses of former president Jacob Zuma and current incumbent Cyril Ramaphosa.
Four shockers from Sexwale’s press briefing
On Thursday, days after dealing with shame from the public, Sexwale hauled South Africa’s mainstream media to vindicate himself with more details on the Heritage Fund.
- The Heritage Fund is managed from Singapore
Sexwale wasted no time in getting to the grit of things. He rubbished Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s scoffing and vehemently stressed that this fund actually exists. In fact, the 68-year-old claimed that the fund originates from Singapore.
- The middle man handling the fund is a Chinese national
He further went on to reveal that the middle man handling communications between Sexwale, his partner Goodwin Erin Webb — who, in the 11th hour, skipped out on the briefing due to ‘ill health — and the unknown international stakeholder is a Chinese national named Chuck Leong.
The billionaire stressed that this was no regular scam. He, in fact, had done due diligence, working with international police, to ensure the validity of the people he was dealing with.
A surface-level search of Leong was fruitless since ‘Chuck Leong’ is a very common name in Asia.
- The fund exists behind a sealed level inside Reserve Bank
Addressing the mockery he’s faced over the past week, Sexwale retorted with his own chuckle, claiming that the real butt of the ridicule was millions of South Africans who fell for the media’s ‘orchestrated’ narrative.
Sexwale revealed that, of course, regular employees would have no knowledge of the existence of such a fund since, according to the billionaire, it is stored behind a restricted area of SARB.
This level, which he termed “BIS”, is only accessed by three or four high-level employees of the central bank and backdoor channels are often used to funnel money from a fund of this nature into the economy.
- Ramaphosa ignored his request to withdraw billions to help fund Covid-19
When Covid-19 struck South Africa, Sexwale says he immediately wrote Ramaphosa a letter, offering $5 billion (R71 billion) from the fund. This gesture, he claims, was ignored by the president.
At the time this article was published, Sexwale was still addressing the media.