Apartheid spy claims rock ANC

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza Photo: Dumisani Sibeko

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza Photo: Dumisani Sibeko

Published Nov 23, 2014

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Johannesburg - The top leadership of the ANC has been rocked by a spy scandal which has set a provincial premier and a former treasurer-general on a collision course.

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has threatened to sue his predecessor, Mathews Phosa, for R10 million after Phosa was inadvertently revealed as a source that provided the ANC’s top six leadership with sensational and damning allegations that Mabuza was an apartheid spy.

The Sunday Independent understands that after he was presented with documents which sought to prove that Mabuza worked with the apartheid security police, Phosa passed the information to ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte.

In turn, Duarte shared the information with the rest of the top six leadership of the party.

The top six is made up of President Jacob Zuma, his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, Duarte and treasurer-general Dr Zweli Mkhize.

The sensitive information made its way to Mabuza, who is now threatening to sue. Allegations of being an apartheid spy could be severely damaging to Mabuza, who has worked his way up the ANC structures in Mpumalanga.

He served as an MEC under Phosa and was appointed Premier by Zuma in 2008.

He is the current chairman of the ANC in Mpumalanga.

Mabuza has asked Zuma to institute an investigation into the allegations.

The Sunday Independent has seen copies of the documents, which allege that Mabuza was an agent, code named PN485, between 1985 and 1993.

His handlers were, it is claimed, two security branch officers, who have left the force and are now businessmen in Mbombela.

Mabuza refused to respond to allegations contained in the report. His spokesman, Zibonele Mncwango, said Mabuza was, at this stage, not commenting on the allegations against him.

Mantashe on Saturday referred all questions on the claims to Mabuza.

Phosa told The Sunday Independent that he remains convinced that he did the right thing by passing the information to the ANC leadership.

He said: “I did my duty to report this matter of the public interest. I reported it as it is tradition, to my leadership not to the media.

“I was not prepared to hide these allegations from my leadership. I simply reported allegations of crimes committed on our soil. This is the duty of every citizen.

“It is the duty of our leadership to follow up these cases, especially that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigations are still under way. Some people escaped the net.

“It doesn’t matter who the source is alleged to be. The message in the report suggests more information and leads to what eluded the TRC,” Phosa said.

Sunday Independent

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