Daily Maverick journo offered R100k to quash IDT investigation (and he's got the receipts)

702's Bongani Bingwa is joined by Daily Maverick investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh.

Listen below:

How much to make it go away?

R60 000? R100 000? Tenders? You'll get your cut.

Daily Maverick has published an explosive exposé by writer Pieter-Louis Myburgh.

Myburgh says the suspended Independent Development Trust’s (IDT) CEO, Tebogo Malaka, and the entity’s spokesperson, Phasha Makgolane, offered to pay him to bury an ongoing investigation.

And he's got the whole thing on camera.

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Malaka was suspended following a PwC investigation into the R836 million oxygen plants scandal.

The CEO is accused of failing to prevent or act on violations that may have cost the state hundreds of millions of rand.

That story first came to light due to investigative reporting by Daily Maverick.

Myburgh explains how he was first contacted by phone by the company's spokesperson Phasha Makgolane.

"It was very clear from the language that Phasha Makgolane was using that it was not going to be a standard, kind of, journalist/spokesperson interaction - he was asking for a private meeting."

- Pieter-Louis Myburgh, Daily Maverick journalist 

Myburgh says Makgolane used words like 'mutual interest' during that phone call.

He says his suspicions were immediately aroused.

"I thought they were softening me up to take money to make the story go away... that's why we were prepared to document what actually happened."

- Pieter-Louis Myburgh, Daily Maverick journalist 

Following the initial phone call, Myburgh met with Makgolane who told him his reporting on IDT was 'doing them a lot of damage.'

"[He said] it was harming Tebogo Malaka's reputation, and he was sure that we could find mutual interest and a mutual way of going forward, doing some more positive reporting around the IDT."

- Pieter-Louis Myburgh, Daily Maverick journalist 

And that positive reporting would see Myburgh being 'rewarded', he says.

"He did mention a regular R100 000 cash payment, and he also said I could bring contractors to the IDT, this is where the real money is... and that my nominated contractors could get IDT tenders and I could get my cut."

- Pieter-Louis Myburgh, Daily Maverick journalist 

What else was Myburgh promised by Makgolane and Malaka?

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.

You can read Myburgh's latest Daily Maverick article here.