‘4.11am email’: IOL reveals rushed R18.5m payments to newspaper owner’s company

According to IOL, an early-morning directive in June 2025 ordered senior managers in the Eastern Cape education department to clear a single company’s outstanding account of R18,485,154.69 within four days an instruction that prompted internal concern because much of the balance was not yet due.

Early-morning instruction and the spreadsheet

According to IOL, the email was sent at 4.11am on Thursday, June 26, 2025, to departmental official Amos Tamsanqa Fetsha and 99 other top management members with the line:

“Dear top management members see attached as per instruction (sic) of the HOD, all outstanding payments to Khumzi to be concluded,”

According to IOL, the email attached a reconciliation spreadsheet titled “Khumzi Recon” covering 167 invoices dated between October 21, 2019 and June 6, 2025 across 48 directorates. The spreadsheet showed a total invoiced amount of R25,635,112.06, of which R7,149,957.37 had been paid and R18,485,154.69 was outstanding.

Ageing schedule and nature of charges

According to IOL, the spreadsheet’s ageing schedule showed a significant portion of the outstanding balance was not yet overdue: R2,759,772.82 was recorded as current; R8,009,074.01 was in the 30‑day bracket; R1,546,594.94 at 60 days; and R1,269,706.18 at 90 days. Only R4,900,006.74 of the balance was older than 120 days.

According to IOL, Khumzi billed many parts of the department largely for accommodation and travel. The single largest exposure was recorded against the office of the MEC at R3,639,440.24 (with R3,522,416.96 outstanding), and the office of the head of department at R546,896.13.

Surge in invoicing and earlier records

According to IOL, Khumzi invoiced the department 29 times in all of 2024 for a total of R2,542,492.02, and 114 times in the first five months and six days of 2025 for R20,904,237.84 a rise IOL describes as an eightfold surge.

According to IOL, 12 invoices worth R1,632,314.10 carried no order number, and 11 invoices predating 2022 totalling R1,577,430.60 remained unpaid; the oldest invoice dated October 21, 2019.

Connections to media ownership and contract records

According to IOL, company records from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission show Ubuntu Media Holdings (registration 2026/154195/07) was registered on February 20, 2026 and renamed to Ubuntu Media Holdings with effect from April 30, 2026. The company’s registered address is recorded as 16 Empire Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, and Sakie Sakhumzi Magele was appointed as a director on May 5, 2026.

According to IOL, Daily Dispatch and The Voice Lounge are expected to share premises at a building Magele owns in Vincent, KuGompo City, and staff at the newspapers experienced late salary payments after IOL published its first report on the takeover.

According to IOL, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality awarded Khumzi a three‑year travel management contract in October under tender CE 595.

Responses and legal exchanges

According to IOL, IOL sent detailed questions to Sakie Sakhumzi Magele through his attorney. The attorney, Hector Schoeman of Peyper Attorneys, wrote that the correspondence contained “numerous serious allegations founded on what appeared to be confidential commercial, corporate, employment and procurement information,” demanded the documentation IOL relied on and warned of legal action.

“Should any publication contain inaccurate, false, misleading or defamatory allegations, or rely upon confidential information unlawfully obtained or disclosed, we hold instructions to institute urgent legal proceedings, without further notice to you,”

According to IOL, IOL editor Lance Witten replied:

“IOL is under no obligation to furnish you with our source material, nor to disclose how the information was obtained,”

According to IOL, Witten gave Magele until 6pm on Monday to answer. Schoeman reiterated his earlier position and said his client would, if necessary, institute urgent legal proceedings without further notice. IOL reports that no answer was given to its listed questions by the time of publication.

Ongoing scrutiny

According to IOL, the reconciliation and the 4.11am instruction add to existing scrutiny of the department’s payments to Khumzi, and to other inquiries and allegations involving senior departmental figures.