Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the minister of small business development, has filed a civil suit against her former employer, Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality in Limpopo, to clear her name and avoid possible prosecution following a damning high court judgment implicating her in an allegedly inflated tender in 2009 when she was municipal manager.
In papers filed on Thursday, Ntshavheni said Ba-Phalaborwa municipal officials had deliberately misled the court in their submission that she had entered into an oral agreement with Makwande Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors to increase the amount of their professional services contract and their scope of work.