Johannesburg - Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has been accused of stopping the publication of a manuscript about the ANC because it apparently contains highly sensitive information about the party.
Thembinkosi Lehloesa, a former employee of the Department of Defence, accused Sisulu of “abuse of power, prejudice and undermining his rights as a civil servant”.
He alleged that Sisulu fired him for refusing to relinquish the rights to the manuscript and persisting with his plans to publish it.
But Lehloesa said it was never his intention to reveal sensitive information about the ANC. He said the manuscript, titled Breaking Down Apartheid: Problems and issues facing the African National Congress in South Africa’s transition to democracy, defended the ANC from attacks by the media and opposition parties, especially before the 2007 Polokwane conference.
Lehloesa said Sisulu had given him permission to use ANC documents for his manuscript but that she changed her mind when publishers accepted his book.
He said the minister had accused him of “betraying her and stealing the ANC’s intellectual property”.
The sources for the manuscript included the ANC’s operational reports; minutes of meetings; testimonies and confessions of people who had been tortured in exile; biographies; magazines and journals.
Lehloesa said he suspected Sisulu might have acted on the instruction of senior ANC leaders who were worried because the documents he used contained explosive information about the party’s operations, including the torture of comrades in exile.
Lehloesa said Silumko Sokupu, the former head of the national intelligence co-ordinating committee, had once told him this on one of the days he was being subjected to “a dubious and vindictive investigation” by Sisulu.
“He said… some of the people who are implicated (in the torture) are high up in government,” Lehloesa added.
Both Sokupu and Sisulu have rubbished Lehloesa’s allegations.
Lehloesa said he had decided to go public because he feared for his life.
“I think they are out to eliminate me because they think I know too much,” he said, adding that his house had been raided and computers confiscated on Sisulu’s orders.
It all started in 1995, when Sisulu was serving as housing minister in Nelson Mandela’s cabinet, after Lehloesa spotted some ANC documents in steel cabinets and boxes in the department’s building in Pretoria. Some of the documents were in Sisulu’s boardroom.
He said he first discussed the idea of writing the manuscript with Sisulu’s husband, Professor Rok Ajulu, who advised him to seek permission from Sisulu.
“She (Sisulu) agreed and said: ‘Just make sure you do not abuse them’,” Lehloesa said.
He had also approached Makhenkesi Stofile, who he knew from when he was Eastern Cape premier, for an endorsement.
In 2009, STE Publishers had agreed to publish his manuscript, while Urban Brew Studios had approved it as a documentary, but requested an endorsement from the ANC.
“I sent another letter to (former) minister Stofile. Before I could meet with him, his PA called me to say I must collect my endorsement as the minister had signed it.
“On April 14, I sent (Sisulu) an SMS reminding her about the endorsement request I had sent her and informed her that I already had minister Stofile’s (endorsement).
“I also mentioned that I would appreciate her assistance in getting endorsements from Mathews Phosa, Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe. She didn’t respond. I sensed that something was wrong.”
Lehloesa said his suspicions proved correct, and in April 2009, Sisulu called him on Ajulu’s phone to berate him.
“She screamed at me, saying where did I get permission… She asked me the names of the people I gave the manuscript to, and I relayed those. She insisted that she never gave permission,” he said.
Lehloesa said he was subjected to a dubious and vindictive investigation that culminated in his suspension and dismissal from the Department of Defence in August 2013, a year after Sisulu was deployed to the Public Service and Administration Department.
Lehloesa said he had sought the intervention of the ANC’s senior leaders, including secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and chairwoman Baleka Mbete, without success.
Sisulu dismissed Thembinkosi Lehloesa’s claims, saying: “I know him from Rhodes (University). He was a bright young chap but I think he has a psychiatric problem.
“I’m not sure if it’s a psychiatric or bipolar problem but he is a kind of person who is schizophrenic. The ANC has suggested he should be sued, until we decided he is not well.
“Two years ago, he burnt his house with his wife and children inside but fortunately they survived.”
Sisulu said Lehloesa’s actions were tantamount to “treason and espionage”.
“Indeed he did see the ANC material but, at the time, I was in Intelligence and responsible (for the safekeeping of the documents), and he abused that space. These are documents that belong to an organisation, and no individual can give approval.”
Lehloesa laughed off Sisulu’s statements, saying she “is hallucinating”. He insisted she had given him permission to use the documents.
Silumko Sokupu, former head of the national intelligence co-ordinating committee, said: “(Lehloesa) is mad. He is fabricating. The fact of the matter is he had unauthorised access to the documents. He was called by Baleka Mbete, who said: ‘You gained unauthorised access and you can’t publish...’”
The Star