Jomo Sono, the owner of the Jomo Cosmos soccer team, has been accused by a newspaper of being at the centre of the alleged blackmail campaign against South African communications minister Dina Pule.
The City Press newspaper alleged yesterday that Sono’s company, Jomo Sono Investments, was one of the 36 companies bidding for the ZAR2.5 billion (US$275 million) set-top box tender.
In a press conference last Monday, Pule accused the Sunday Times newspaper and journalists Mzilikazi wa Afrika, Stephen Hofstatter and Rob Rose of running a deliberate “smear campaign against” her over the past few months, saying the paper’s intention was to force her into making favourable decisions to benefit the interests of particular organisations and people.
Pule also claimed Wa Afrika had an association with businessmen and companies linked to the tender.
The Sunday Times vigorously denied these allegations, though the City Press report now alleges that Sono and Robert Nkuna, special advisor to Pule’s predecessor Roy Padayachie and a former Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) councillor, set up a meeting between Wa Afrika and Pule in June 2012 at the Southern Sun hotel in Sandton.
The City Press report said all interviewees had confirmed Sono’s role in the meeting, including Wa Afrika on Saturday, though he denied knowledge of Sono’s company’s bid for the set-top box tender.
