Hi there Dr Sexwale.

My name is Jessica Bezuidenhout, am a

reporter with Daily Maverick in Johannesburg. 
Kindly herewith find a media enquiry, responses to which I would
require by close of business on Wednesday, March 5 2020. This is
in view of the fairly straightforward nature of the questions.

RE: Trillian
Trillian Capital Partners has lost its bid to appeal at the Supreme
Court against the Pretoria High Court order obtained by Eskom in
2019.For all intents and purposes, this appears to be the end of
the road and liquidation of the company now seems set. 

Am not sure whether you are aware that SARS too wants to
liquidate the company and has, in court papers filed, said this
needs to be done urgently to safeguard assets for distribution to
creditors that now include Eskom, Transnet and SARS.

Dr Sexwale, in view of everything that has happened with this

company, may I please ask you to respond to the following list of
questions, elaborate as extensively as wish. 

In April 2016 you publicly stated that you knew nothing about the
Guptas and their influence peddling system of State Capture. In
your open letter (published in April 2016) to Mr Ajay Gupta, you did
though indicate that you had become aware of the severity of the
allegations against the family and offered Mr Gupta some friendly
advice.  
QUESTIONS
1. Your appointment happened during the same month you
penned the Open Letter to Mr Gupta. Could you please
comment on the fact that you accepted the offer to serve as
non-executive chairman of Trillian, a company that has since
been gutted as a result of its Gupta ties and its unlawful
method of extracting cash from state-owned companies. 

2. Who precisely approached you to serve as the company's

non- executive chairman? Was it Mr Eric Wood or Mr Ajay
Gupta or Mr Salim Essa? If you can’t recall, are you able to
explain who precisely you did the remuneration negotiations
with.
3. You were paid R500k a month and records/leaks show this
went on until July 2017 when the report by Advocate Geoff
Budlender was released and you announced that you would
be stepping down as chairman.  Dr Sexwale, could you
please explain or comment on why you continued to draw a
salary from the company following the State Capture
allegations that engulfed the company – at least those that
emerged publicly in October 2016.

4. Kindly confirm or comment on information gleaned from

Trillian records showing that you were paid a total of R7.5m
during your tenure as Trillian non exec chairman and that
more than half had been paid to you after the explosive
statement of Ms Mosilo Mothepu became public in October
2016.

5. All investigations (including those done by a court appointed

curator for SARS) thus far show that Trillian had relied,
predominantly, on its income from the tainted Eskom cash to
operate. In view of this information now being accepted as
substantially factual, would you consider returning the money
you earned during your tenure as Trillian chairman in view of
just how tainted that cash is?

6. If not, please could you explain why you believe otherwise.

7. Daily Maverick has obtained independent information that

you had formally requested remuneration of R1-million per
month at some point from Trillian. Please could you
comment on this and explain what your understanding was
at the time of precisely where the company’s income was
derived from.

8. Kindly confirm that you had no knowledge at the time of your

appointment to the Trillian Board that the company was
effectively a Gupta-linked entity.

9. Finally, leaked material show your attendance at one Board

meeting of Trillian but Daily Maverick is unable to find
confirmation that you attended any others, at least prior to
the October 2016 revelations of Ms Mothepu. Could you
please detail precisely what your role was during the early
 days of Trillian (April 2016 to October 2016)and what matters
of the company you occupied yourself with once the
Budlender investigation kicked off.

Your responses to the above would greatly assist us to accurately

reflect on your tenure as non-exec chair of Trillian and the duties of
all those associated with the company

Sincere regards
Jessica Bezuidenhout
Daily Maverick
0827442655