ANC hails Wolmarans prosecution

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans, right, and his former bodyguard, Enoch Matshaba, in court. Photo: Itumeleng English

Johannesburg - The ANC has welcomed the prosecution of former Rustenburg mayor Matthews Wolmarans.

“The successful prosecution... is a demonstration once more that this country cannot afford crime in whatever form and irrespective of who commits it,” African National Congress spokesman Jackson Mthembu said on Friday.

“The ANC... is disappointed that a senior member of the organisation... has been found guilty of the murder of a whistleblower and a fellow ANC councillor,” he said in a statement.

Wolmarans was jailed for 20 years on Tuesday for the murder of Moss Phakoe.

The Rustenburg High Court also sentenced Wolmarans's former bodyguard Enoch Matshaba to life in prison.

Matshaba was arrested on August 4, 2011, after a witness told the police in Bela Bela about the crime. He saw Matshaba holding a gun at Phakoe's home just after hearing two gunshots.

Wolmarans was arrested on September 24, 2011, together with Amos Mataboge and Oupa Mphomane. Charges against Mataboge and Mphomane were dropped.

Phakoe was shot dead at his home in Rustenburg north in March 2009 after handing over a dossier detailing corruption in the municipality to high-ranking ANC officials, including secretary general Gwede Mantashe and President Jacob Zuma.

Phakoe also gave the dossier to former co-operative governance minister Sicelo Shiceka, in the presence of Wolmarans.

Jackson said: “The ANC has never lived with nor tolerated political assassins and we therefore condemn in strongest terms the act of political murder instigated by the former mayor.”

The ANC would refer the matter to its national disciplinary committee.

“We are confident that our disciplinary structures will deal with matter expeditiously and arrive at a sanction that will be commensurate to the serious offence committed by these comrades,” said Mthembu. - Sapa