Please find attached sound by Andrew Bateman MP.
The DA has submitted previously undisclosed Daybreak Foods State Capture invoices to the Presidency for referral to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which is assessing our request to investigate alleged financial irregularities at Daybreak and the PIC’s role in its affairs.
Daybreak was billed at least R2.97 million between January and July 2022 for “State Capture Analysis and Legal Advisory”. One invoice records lawyers examining whether Daybreak or the PIC itself was implicated in the State Capture Commission’s findings.
The PIC managed its Daybreak investment on behalf of government employees, pensioners and workers. Why was a poultry company paying lawyers to examine its exposure to State Capture, let alone the exposure of its shareholder?
There is corroborating evidence supporting the authenticity of these records. Fundudzi Forensic Services possessed and analysed Malahlela Attorneys invoices, identifying matching memorandum numbers and State Capture billing entries in its report.
For example, one invoice, Memorandum of Fees 327, charged Daybreak R1,063,750. Six fee earners each billed 90 units of time over the same nine days reviewing the State Capture report and transcripts, followed by another 20 units each summarising chapters. Fundudzi flagged corresponding entries among hours it considered apparently excessive.
Concerningly, Fundudzi was instructed to suspend parts of its investigation after the PIC commissioned Nexus Forensic Services to examine overlapping matters, and subsequently to finalise its report without completing outstanding work.
Daybreak’s Business Rescue Plan cites Nexus’s finding that approximately R123.9 million was paid to Malahlela Attorneys, including R39.9 million that could not be matched to invoices. Although the plan lists four forensic and governance investigations commissioned between 2022 and 2024, it makes no mention of Fundudzi.
What happened to the invoices Fundudzi assembled? Did Nexus or the business rescue practitioners receive them? Were the State Capture charges investigated, and what were the findings?
The Presidency has confirmed that our request was referred to the SIU for assessment and recommendation to the President.
We urge the SIU to recommend a full investigation into who commissioned and benefited from this work, and whether anyone within Daybreak or the PIC interfered with investigations or sought to protect those responsible.
Nearly 1,900 workers lost their jobs, while billions of rands of pensioners’ and workers’ money were placed at risk.
They deserve to know who was responsible for Daybreak’s collapse, what happened to the evidence, and whether anyone sought to prevent the truth from coming out.