THE Public Investment Corporation has secured an interim interdict preventing a director of a PIC-funded company from making allegations of corruption against its officials, following a R725 million loan dispute.
The Johannesburg High Court has granted an order restraining Ralebala Matome Mampeule, a director of Levoca 805, from publishing defamatory statements suggesting PIC officials are involved in corruption, bribery and extortion.
The court ruled no evidence exists to support Mampeule’s allegations, which targeted PIC officials, including Lindiwe Dlamini, the corporation’s head of legal.
The Transaction
The PIC approved a R725 million loan facility to Levoca in February 2024 to acquire a 19.5% stake in MetroFibre Networx, part of the corporation’s black economic empowerment mandate in the telecommunications sector.
The deal structured the acquired MetroFibre shares as security for the loan, with Levoca responsible for transaction costs, including legal and advisory fees.
Multiple Defaults
The relationship soured when Levoca breached its agreement through multiple defaults. The company failed to provide the required management accounts in November 2024, then defaulted on legal and advisory fees when its own attorneys issued a summons for unpaid debts in December 2024.
Levoca subsequently requested an additional R6.6 million for legal costs and working capital – a request the PIC rejected as irregular, noting beneficiaries in empowerment transactions are expected to cover their own costs.
By January 2025, after Mampeule threatened to place his companies into business rescue without addressing the defaults, the PIC exercised its security rights and took control of Levoca’s MetroFibre shares to protect the Government Employees Pension Fund and pensioners’ savings.
Criminal Complaint
The PIC filed a criminal complaint with the Hawks in August 2025 after discovering Levoca allegedly provided invalid share certificates as security for the R725 million loan, which the PIC contends constituted fraud against the GEPF.
Following the PIC’s enforcement action, Mampeule lodged a criminal complaint in late 2025 alleging a PIC official solicited a R3 million bribe and that his refusal led to the action against him.
Thabiso Moshikara, the PIC’s acting head of unlisted investments, who was named in the allegations, has been placed on precautionary suspension while an independent law firm investigates.
The PIC said no evidence has been provided to support Mampeule’s claims, and the timing suggests the allegations emerged as a response to legitimate enforcement rather than as the cause of it.
The corporation, which manages R3.6 trillion in government employee pension funds and other social security assets, said it would cooperate fully with law enforcement but maintains it has a fiduciary duty to enforce contracts and protect beneficiaries’ funds.
