Johannesburg – The Hawks have distanced themselves from reports that they had forced former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to implicate ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule in connection with the controversial Estina Dairy Farm project.
The Sunday World reported that Zwane had written an email to the ANC’s top 6 officials alerting them that three white men claiming to be from the Hawks came to his home on August 11 in connection with the investigation into the Vrede Dairy Project.
“They indicated that they are from the Hawks and they are here to take my statement on the R30m paid to Estina.
’’They said they know that I was instructed by my former boss, the former premier of the Free State comrade Ace, and if I’m not prepared to give them the statement we will both go to jail.
“The reason I am raising this matter is that I want to bring to my organisation the fact that I am always ready to cooperate with authorities, that I am being harassed by people masquerading as law enforcement and threatening my life, forcing me to implicate comrade Ace,” he said.
However, Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said that no member of the Hawks had visited Zwane and urged him to back up his allegations by naming the individuals who had visited him at his home.
“There’s no member from the Hawks who went to visit him, we don’t know where these things are coming from. It is futile to dignify the allegations with any response, so he’s got a responsibility to tell (us) who are those people who claim they are Hawks members who went to him.
“Normally we leave our details with the person we’re investigating, we identify ourselves and leave the details if needs be.
’’There has never been any interaction with him (Zwane), we have never interacted with him before, why is he all of a sudden a person of interest?” Mulaudzi said.
“We don’t want to cast aspersions on people who are of interest to us, but in terms of what is being said that we visited Mosebenzi, intimidated him, forced him to implicate Ace Magashule and all those kinds of things, that’s a lie. That’s a lie,” Mulaudzi said.
Zwane and ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe could not be reached for comment to verify claims that Zwane had written to the ANC's top six about the Hawks’ alleged intimidation.
Political Bureau