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Who went to Paris with Paul? Tenderpreneur joined Mashatile's France-SA business trip
Sibuyile Magingxa, Johannesburg's water tanker tenderpreneur, was part of the delegation that joined Deputy President Paul Mashatile in Paris.
Also present was musician Lesedi Phala, who is Magingxa's romantic partner and allegedly the niece of SA's ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa.
Attempts to obtain clear answers on who invited them resulted in a comical loop of referrals and evasions from Mashatile's office, the Department of International Relations, and the Department of Trade and Industry.
In May, a South African delegation led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile travelled to Paris for the South Africa-France Investment Conference. The message was clear: South Africa was open for business and eager to attract foreign investment.
But while ministers and diplomats delivered speeches about transparency and reform, social media told another story. Photos and videos revealed that two people, Sibuyile Magingxa and Lesedi Phala, were in attendance, despite not appearing on the published list of private sector delegates.
Magingxa is one of the two tenderpreneurs at the centre of Johannesburg's R263-million water tanker contract, which is currently the subject of an internal investigation, while Phala - a former Miss South Africa contestant and musician - is his romantic partner. Our research suggests she is also the niece of South African Ambassador to France Nathi Mthethwa.
Although Magingxa and Phala did not appear on the list of 80 delegates published by the French hosts, they were nevertheless present at key events and appear to have enjoyed unfettered access to South Africa's international charm offensive.
A video Magingxa posted on Instagram seemingly shows him walking a few steps behind Mashatile when he was greeted by dignitaries and ministers at the Hôtel d'Évreux in Paris on 21 May.
Photos posted by Phala on Instagram show her posing separately with both Mashatile and Mthethwa at an evening reception hosted at the South African Embassy a few days later.
It's important to point out that taxpayers did NOT pay for Magingxa and Phala's trip - they covered their own flights and accommodation costs - but as delegates, they were invited to official dinners, receptions and events that were not open to the public.
Their presence - and the efforts of different departments to avoid explaining it - offered a rare glimpse into how influence truly operates in the South African political ecosystem: quietly, and often without accountability.
Fingerpointing
When we first received a tipoff about Magingxa and Phala's Paris jaunt, we asked Mashatile's office and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) for an explanation.
After days of Dirco ghosting us, Mashatile's spokesperson, Keith Khoza, forwarded us what he told us was the department's response:
Dirco plays an integral role in reviewing, advising and endorsing government delegation compositions … [Magingxa and Phala's] participation and roles were aligned with the objectives of promoting private sector involvement in South Africa's economic diplomacy.
The delegation included some heavy hitters: the CEOs of Eskom, Transnet, the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of South Africa, Sygnia, and Bigen, as well as senior executives from MTN and VW.
So where, we asked, did a controversial tenderpreneur and a social media influencer fit in?
But when we returned to Dirco with further questions, it disowned Khoza's response. Instead, spokesperson Clayson Monyela told us that Dirco was not involved in the decision on who to invite and referred us back to Mashatile's office, which then referred us to the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC) … which then referred us back to Dirco.
At every stage, officials pointed elsewhere, and no single department accepted responsibility for answering our questions. This recursive loop of referrals did not clarify anything; it instead created a fog of unaccountability, where responsibilities were acknowledged in passing but never fully owned.
It would be comical, if it were not so revealing.
Invitations without records
With no one willing to own the decision to invite Magingxa and Phala, we reached out to Mthethwa, who has been South Africa's ambassador to France since 2024 and, it is alleged, is also Phala's uncle.
According to the embassy in Paris, most of the private sector delegates had been handpicked, but 10% - including Magingxa and Phala - reached out to the embassy directly to request invitations.
'Their participation stemmed from an open and inclusive invitation extended to entities in the private sector whose interests aligned with the investment and trade objectives of the SA-France Investment Conference,' the embassy told us in an official response from Mthethwa.
The explanation might have held up had there been any official public call for South African businesses to participate in the first place. AmaBhungane searched for one. We asked for it. None was produced. There was no announcement from Dirco, no statement from the DTIC, and no trace of it on the embassy's platforms.
In fact, the only public call we could find was a post from the French Chamber of Commerce in South Africa, inviting South African companies to attend the conference, which said it was an initiative of 'the South African Embassy in Paris, in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy President of South Africa, Mr Paul Mashatile'.
In its initial response, the embassy told us that 'any qualifying entity that approached the embassy and met the criteria received an invitation to participate', adding that Magingxa and Phala's inclusion 'was not a result of any personal intervention or nomination by Ambassador Mthethwa'.
The embassy said:
Any suggestion to the contrary is unfortunate, demeaning and must be repudiated as it seeks to impugn the person of the ambassador.
But if they had somehow missed the 'exiting news' on the French-South African Chamber LinkedIn post, South African small businesses had no such window. The only 'application' process, it appears, was knowing whom to call and when.
It also seemed strange that neither Magingxa nor Phala's names appeared on the list of 80 private sector delegates published by the French hosts.
But again, the embassy was ready with a response: 'It is important to clarify that neither Ms Phala nor Mr Magingxa confirmed their attendance on time, and as a result, they were not included in the final list of confirmed participants.'
However, when asked for the final list of delegates, the embassy refused, claiming the list was 'proprietary and privileged'.
No vetting
The embassy told us any qualifying entity that asked to be included in the delegation for Mashatile's trip got the green light.
So, we asked, who qualified?
'The conference brought together state-owned enterprises [SOEs], large corporates, medium-sized companies, black industrialists, small, medium and micro enterprises [SMMEs], women-owned businesses, and enterprises owned and managed by the youth,' the embassy told us.
'The entities linked to Ms Phala and Mr Maxingxa meet the criteria mentioned above and operate across the key sectors of the South African economy.'
But do they?
Phala is listed as a director of four companies - Novo Shi, Law and Life, Letha Ukuthula Holdings, and Luxxo Enterprises - but none of them seem to have any public profile or operational footprint. Instead, her public profile is linked to her work as a model, influencer and musician.
AmaBhungane sent detailed questions to Phala about the Paris invitation, her company roles, and ties to Mthethwa. She did not respond to questions sent to her.
Magingxa is more active in business, but he is no ordinary entrepreneur. He is a director of Nutinox, a company awarded half of a R263-million contract by Joburg Water in 2024 to provide water tankers to the City.
After amaBhungane raised questions about potential collusion in the tender, Joburg Water told us it had launched a formal investigation.
A familiar face
One name on the official delegate list that did catch our attention was Xolisile Guqaza, a businessman from the Eastern Cape who, in 2013, was one of four people accused of defrauding the Department of Arts and Culture of R2.5 million by claiming to have booked singer R Kelly for a fake performance.
According to reports, money flowed through shell companies, and Guqaza was seen ducking photographers in court by hiding under a paper bag.
The case was withdrawn in 2016 at which point Guqaza had established a new business, Zoliset, that rents equipment to mines and water tankers to municipalities.
When we investigated the R263-million water tanker contract, we found signs of possible collusion between the bidders: the two winning bidders, Magingxa's Nutinox and Builtpro, run by 27-year-old Emmanuel Sserufusa, who previously shared an address in Johannesburg.
But Builtpro had also appeared to share an address with another unsuccessful bidder: Zoliset.
When we contacted Guqaza in November 2024, he denied having any business ties to Nutinox or Builtpro. He described the address his company shared with Builtpro as a multi-tenant office park and said he was unaware of the other companies operating from the location.
Yet photos from Magingxa's Instagram account show that the trio are well-acquainted: both Magingxa and Sserufusa were photographed at his homecoming event in December 2024, and after Mashatile's official trip ended, Magingxa posted photos of himself, Phala and Guqaza at the Monaco Grand Prix.
'This time around, I would like to respond to these questions in person,' Guqaza wrote to amaBhungane in response to the questions sent to him. 'Call me so we can confirm the time and venue for our meeting.'
We offered to set up a Zoom meeting, but Guqaza declined and did not take us up on the offer to extend the deadline for a written response.
Supplied.
The R263-million tender
As far as we know, the R263-million Joburg Water tender remains under formal investigation.
In February 2025, Mayor Dada Morero announced a probe into the deal following amaBhungane's reporting. But since then, efforts to obtain updates from the City or MMC Jack Sekwaila have led nowhere.
AmaBhungane has since uncovered that Magingxa and Sserufusa jointly operate a third company, M and S Traffic Services.
According to the company profile, Magingxa is listed as chief executive officer and Sserufusa as chief operations officer - concrete evidence that the two winning bidders did not just share an address but have been in business together.
In February 2025, we wrote to Joburg Water describing the document we found, which pointed to possible collusion in the tender. It responded that once it became aware of the media allegations, its internal audit department was tasked with investigating the matter, and the investigation is ongoing.
AmaBhungane sent detailed questions to Magingxa and Sserufusa about their business dealings and potential links to the R263-million water tanker contract. Neither responded to the questions.
Free pass?
If the embassy had Googled Magingxa, our December 2024 investigation would likely have been the first result that came up.
And the images we found show Magingxa and Phala were not just casual observers. They were moving in spaces reserved for South Africa's official face to the world.
But this cuts no ice with the embassy.
'The embassy administration does not have the capacity to conduct probity checks of companies that requested participation,' it told us.
When we asked whether any other arm of government had vetted the delegates who would have direct access to the deputy president and the other ministers on the trip, the embassy got defensive: 'Please explain why any vetting was required?' it wrote.
It added:
We are not aware of any delegate who has been found guilty of any wrongdoing.
But considering that the whole point of the trip was to sell South Africa as a place where French companies could do business, was this the face of South African business that we wanted to show?
'There is no delegate who was crowned as the face or representative of South African business. This is your creation entirely,' the embassy told us in a follow-up response, adding: 'Please accept that your subjects of interest were not the focus of the conference.'
