Bridgman Sithole, one of Deputy President Paul Mashatile's oldest and closest friends, is a director of a company set to make considerable profits over the next two decades from a major multibillion-rand energy contract from the government.
Another associate, Robinson Ramaite, whose companies have benefitted from Gauteng government contracts in the past, could similarly pocket millions from a mega housing project east of Pretoria.
Sithole is considered one of Mashatile's closest friends and is chairperson of the board of the Manzi Mashatile Foundation, named after the deputy president's wife and established after her death.