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Irish Examiner
03-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Cork-headquartered Adapt IT acquired by Ekco
Cork-headquartered Adapt IT has been acquired by managed service provider Ekco. The new deal, which marks Ekco's sixth acquisition in two years, brings its total acquisition investment to €57m in that period. Operating for more than 20 years, Adapt IT employs 37 people at its Cork headquarters and specialises in SME services. Its 300-strong customer base operates in industries such as manufacturing, retail, hospitality, legal, and finance. The acquisition of Adapt IT brings Ekco's global headcount to more than 1,000 employees and adds a seventh Irish location to its growing regional network. In addition to its three sites in Dublin, Ekco now operates in Cork, Waterford, and Laois, as well as across the UK, Netherlands, South Africa, and Malaysia. The deal is the latest in Ekco's wider acquisition strategy for growth and brings the total number of businesses acquired by Ekco in the last two years to six. Earlier this year, the company announced the purchase of Predatech, a UK-based cybersecurity consultancy. In 2024, it added UK legal IT specialist CTS to its portfolio of companies. The year before saw the additions of MSPs Radius and Bluecube, as well as cloud migration and cybersecurity specialist iSystems. Cian Prendergast, CEO at Ekco MSP, said: 'The acquisition of Adapt IT is the latest move in our aggressive expansion strategy which targets key acquisitions combined with sustained business growth. "This strategy reflects an investment in innovation that will make us in Ekco, and our acquired companies, stronger as a result. We're building a modern, security-first MSP that helps ambitious businesses to operate with confidence and resilience." John Levis, Managing Director at Adapt IT, said: 'We are delighted to join the Ekco group, an Irish-founded business which is on an impressive growth trajectory. This will enable us to continue to deliver top-tier services to businesses, backed up by the skills and resources of a larger group.
Daily Maverick
28-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Ties that bind: Inside Mashatile's inner circle behind SA's new lottery operator
A cache of pictures and video shows the cozy ties between Deputy President Paul Mashatile and the inner circle behind the new lottery operator, Sizekhaya Holdings. It also introduces a key new figure linking them: Sbu Shabalala, the disgraced former Adapt IT chief executive. Photographs and footage reveal the close personal relationships behind the company that clinched the multibillion-rand lotto licence and their links to Deputy President Paul Mashatile. They provide insight into the powerful people who orbit the Deputy President, with a new name surfacing: former Adapt IT CEO Sbu Shabalala. Following amaBhungane's reporting, members of Parliament put the heat on Minister of Trade and Industry, Parks Tau, asking him to account for possible conflicts of interest in the licence bidding process and award. AmaBhungane understands that Sbu Shabalala is engaged to Khumo Bogatsu, Mashatile's sister-in-law, and is also the cousin of Moses Tembe, the Durban businessman who leads Sizekhaya. Earlier this week amaBhungane revealed that Bogatsu is the twin sister of second lady Humile Mashatile and co-owns Bellamont Gaming with Tembe. Bellamont Gaming is a shareholder in Sizekhaya Holdings, which has received the nod from Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau to take over the national lottery licence, valid for eight years and generating about R7-billion annually. Shabalala is believed to be a key person helping knit together the politically connected group, which includes Sandile Zungu, a prominent member of Sizekhaya who reportedly co-leads the consortium with Tembe. Shabalala's presence is also controversial because of his spectacular fall from grace and departure from Adapt IT in 2021 following a violent incident at his estranged wife's home. He did not respond to questions. Power video The group's proximity to power is most strikingly demonstrated in a video circulated online around March 2025 – three months before the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) announced Sizekhaya as the winning bidder. The video captures the group, minus Zungu, at what appears to be a holiday gathering at an upscale resort. The scene is relaxed and familiar: Tembe in a crisp white shirt, his wife in jeans and a white shirt, Shabalala in a black shirt and shorts, Bogatsu in a sun hat and white blouse, Mrs Mashatile sipping a bottle of water and the Deputy President dancing. Deputy President Paul Mashatile taking a break from his demanding duties to spend quality time with family and friends. — MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) March 15, 2025 Other photos, which we'll detail, place members of the group – including Zungu, Mashatile and their spouses – in each other's company at various personal and private events. The visuals are significant, not because powerful people have friends, but because these friendships sit at the nexus of a major public tender worth billions, raising questions about proximity, access and influence. In this regard, State Capture amply demonstrated the potential sway of informal networks over formal decision-making. The visuals add to concerns about the potential for political interference in the award of the hotly contested lottery licence, despite both Tau and Mashatile emphasising this week that the Deputy President played no role whatsoever in the lottery decision. In a response to amaBhungane, Sizekhaya said that 'the questions put forward to Advocate Bogatsu, Mr Tembe and Mr Zungu are irrelevant to the award and operation of the fourth national lottery licence and, as such, Sizekhaya is unable to respond to them. 'Sizekhaya reiterates that the allegations relating to 'interested, politically connected parties' are baseless, and that our directors and shareholders are fit and proper, as per the Lotteries Act.' Tembe told amaBhungane he did not believe any answer they gave would ever satisfy the 'insatiable appetite to incriminate' Mashatile: 'We're private individuals who've got private lives like you… You're welcome to continue down that trajectory without our cooperation.' He maintained that they had submitted all necessary declarations to the NLC and that the consortium won the bid on merit. Fallout As a result of amaBhungane's reporting, members of Parliament grilled Tau about Mashatile's possible conflicts of interest during a committee meeting on Tuesday. Tau indicated he had been unaware that the Deputy President's sister-in-law had an interest in Sizekhaya and said the matter would be investigated. Mashatile also later claimed he was unaware of Bogatsu's participation in the lottery bid. Several questions put to Mashatile's office went unanswered. Then, in a shocking turn of events, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday that he had taken a decision to remove Deputy Minister of Trade Industry and Competition Andrew Whitfield, who is also a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Whitfield's firing was allegedly owing to his official overseas visit in February, which took place without Ramaphosa's permission. A furious DA gave Ramaphosa 48 hours to remove other poor performing and corruption-implicated ministers, threatening 'consequences' if he did not. In a speech on Thursday, DA leader John Steenhuisen told Parliament that 'perhaps there is something even deeper at play here… Andrew Whitfield… had opposed an attempt to make suspect appointments, he was standing in the way of the looting that will follow from the Transformation Fund – and all of this in a department mired in corruption allegations involving the tender for the National Lottery.' In a statement on Friday, Ramaphosa said Whitfield's firing was unrelated to anything else. 'There is really no basis for suggestions that the dismissal of the former deputy minister is related to any other reason than his failure to receive permission to travel and adhere to the rules and established practices expected of members of the Executive of the Republic of South Africa,' he said. Shabalala's rise and fall For Shabalala – whose engagement to Bogatsu appears to have given him direct access to Mashatile – to be included in the Deputy President's circle provides him a comeback after his dramatic fall from grace. In May 2021, the Sunday Times reported that Shabalala's estranged wife, Neo Shabalala, sought a high court interdict against Shabalala, claiming he had hired armed men to assault her then partner, Sipho Nzuza, at her Zimbali home. Nzuza was eThekwini municipal manager, but was at the time out on bail of R50,000 after being arrested in connection with the now-notorious Durban Solid Waste case, in which he is still on trial alongside former Mayor Zandile Gumede. The Sunday Times report said Nzuza had been left in a critical condition after the attack and had his spleen and part of a kidney removed. Neo claimed in her affidavit that the assault – at which Sbu Shabalala was allegedly present – was meant to intimidate her into signing a divorce settlement that she believed was for less than what she was entitled to. She claimed Shabalala was invading her privacy by planting listening devices in her home and monitoring her cellphone. 'I do not feel safe in the slightest with the First Respondent [Shabalala] being near me or entering the immovable property,' she said. Although Shabalala maintained his innocence, saying the allegations were without merit, he consented to the interdict and the fallout resulted in his fall from grace. After taking a three month leave of absence to 'attend to personal matters' he ended up resigning from Adapt IT – the feisty tech company that he had founded and taken to a listing on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. 'We are coming home' – and bringing friends In growing closer to Mashatile through Bogatsu, Shabalala is said to have also brought his cousin, Tembe, into enhanced proximity. Tembe co-directs and co-owns Bellamont Gaming with Bogatsu, the twin sister of Mashatile's wife, Humile. The company is a minority shareholder in Sizekhaya, and it is central to questions of a conflict of interest for the Deputy President. The company's name, Sizekhaya – which translates to 'we are coming home' – seems apt for a group bound not only by business but also by longstanding personal relationships. Aside from the revealing video, the group also appeared together in a photo previously published by amaBhungane, taken at St Paul's Anglican Church in February 2024, where they gathered to honour victims of a bus crash following the ANC's manifesto launch at Moses Mabhida Stadium. While the published photo focused on Tembe, Mashatile and his wife in the front row, a closer look reveals Shabalala standing behind them to the right and a partially obscured woman who may be Bogatsu to his left, just behind the red jacket. That year, Mashatile had frequented Tembe's home in uMdloti, KwaZulu-Natal, according to people in the area, and around the time the photo was taken it is said that Mashatile's presidential protection unit stayed over at Tembe's house for around six days. Coincidentally or not, Bellamont Gaming was registered just months before that visit, in December 2023 – four months after the NLC published the request for proposal (FRP) for the licence and just two months before bids were due. In that month, Zungu was seemingly celebrating a special moment with Tembe, and a photo shared to his WhatsApp story shows the pair holding a baby girl, allegedly Zungu's. Miami and milestones 2023 was also the year that Shabalala and Bogatsu allegedly celebrated their own milestone – their alleged engagement in August in Miami. Tembe and Reggie Kukama – a well-known friend and associate of Mashatile's – as well as Kukama's son were allegedly there to witness the special occasion. Kukama and Mashatile are members of the so-called 'Alex mafia', a group of successful businessmen and politicians who hail from Alexandra, Johannesburg. More pictures from the same year show Shabalala and Bogatsu arm-in-arm with Zungu and his wife, Nozipho. Another image shows the alleged couple with a close friend at a lunch hosted for the group. Another shows Bogatsu and Shabalala alongside the ANC's Tony Yengeni in an intimate lunch setting. On 2 February 2024, the day before the lottery bids were due, Shabalala, Bogatsu, Tembe and his wife, Princess Nandoyesizwe Tembe (formerly Zulu), were photographed at the opening of the Anele Tembe Library at Durban Girls' College. It was a special occasion for Tembe as a grieving father. His daughter Anele died in 2001 after falling from a balcony in the presence of her then fiancé, rapper Kiernan AKA Forbes. Forbes died two years later after being shot in Durban. 'Not enough to buy an aeroplane' In response to amaBhungane's questions, Tembe dismissed questions about his relationships as an 'invasion of privacy and humiliating'. He said that in his various positions, he has met 'almost all leaders across the political spectrum in their home and my home'. 'It's my duty to share notes on all issues that impact business and to influence them to inculcate and live Godly values. None of them (across the political spectrum) would ever say I discussed personal interests.' Mashatile, he said, had no financial interest in Sizekhaya's bid. He added that the bid was never discussed with Mashatile and confirmed his shareholding in Sizekhaya, but claimed that it was 'insignificant' and 'much less than 10%'. He added: 'The NLC takes the biggest chunk of the top line and winnings even higher. No shareholder would make money to buy an aeroplane.' Political alignment Tau and Mashatile have also risen through the political ranks together. From December 2000, Tau served as a member of the mayoral committee (MMC) in Johannesburg for various portfolios until 2009, when he was elected to the Gauteng ANC provincial executive committee. Around this time, from 1994 until 2009, Mashatile served as MEC in various portfolios, also in Gauteng. From 2007 to 2017, Mashatile served as provincial chairperson of the ANC in Gauteng and from 2011 to 2016 – the same period – Tau served as mayor of Johannesburg. Parliamentary grilling Tau maintained in a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting this week that the process of awarding the licence to Sizekhaya Holdings was fair, but said he would go back and investigate allegations of a conflict of interest between the Deputy President and his sister-in-law. 'Fit and proper is a continuous process. There are allegations that have been raised in the media,' Tau said. 'We have looked at those allegations and we will look at them because they are specific allegations; you cannot ignore them. It would be irresponsible of us to ignore what has been raised in the public domain by investigative journalists in the media and so on.' Tau added that they would get appropriate advice on whether the Deputy President's relationship constitutes a conflict of interest, political affiliation and any other considerations. DM
