Corruption case that petered out

North West - One of the men who alerted ANC president Jacob Zuma to rampant corruption and fraud in the ANC-controlled municipalities in North West feels let down by his own party.

Not only is Alfred Motsi feeling aggrieved about the ANC’s lack of action – his best friend and fellow ANC councillor Moss Phakoe was shot and killed in his driveway for handing over the dossier to Zuma and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.

Motsi and Phakoe handed the dossier to Zuma in December 2008 at his Nkandla home.

In January 2009, according to Motsi, the same document was handed to the ANC’s top six on the instruction of Zuma at a meeting held in Potchefstroom.

On March 12, 2009, the pair handed the dossier to the late minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs Sicelo Shiceka. Shiceka, at the time, was an ANC deployee in North West.

On March 14, 2009, Phakoe was killed outside his home.

Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans and his bodyguard Enoch Matshaba were found guilty and sentenced for Phakoe’s murder in July last year. They have since appealed against their convictions and sentences.

Motsi was adamant that if the ANC had acted, Phakoe would be with his family today.

For Motsi, the “ANC and government have let Bra Moss (Phakoe) down”.

“It is embarrassing for the ANC and government who are always talking against corruption and encouraging people not to give it a blind eye and expose it, that they are now doing nothing after a man had died while trying to expose corruption.

“What is the use of having a corruption hotline if there will be no action to corruption allegations and exposés?” he asked.

“People who are incriminated in the dossier have lots of money. I believe there is a cover-up for them from the party (ANC) and government and the police, and by so doing, Bra Moss’s family and the nation are suffering a great injustice.”

Motsi believes that after their meeting with Zuma, he ordered an investigation, but said it petered out.

“There was an investigation by the Special Investigating Unit and later a police investigation led by a Lieutenant-Colonel Mohlala, but no one can say where it all ended.

“Neither myself nor Bra Moss were ever interviewed on the dossier we compiled,” he said.

Motsi said several ANC and senior government officials, including Mantashe, were privy to the dossier.

It was not known whether Shiceka ever acted on the allegations.

The Star gave the ANC, national police spokesman Brigadier Phuthi Setati and North West police time to reply to our question, but none of them bothered to do so.

On Tuesday, Setati contacted the paper and asked for the publication to be withheld until Wednesday, promising to give a detailed response to our enquiry.

Setati failed to live up to his promise on Wednesday. On Thursday, he failed to return calls or respond to SMSes sent to him.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza, when contacted on Thursday, said he was not aware if the dossier and its content ever reached Luthuli House, the ANC’s headquarters in Joburg. “My understanding is that this thing happened in North West, and I’m not aware if it was ever taken to the head office of the ANC,” he said.

Meanwhile, Motsi said almost all the documents contained in the dossier he helped compile were stolen during a break-in at his house.

“I find it difficult to pursue the matter, although I am certain that senior people in government and the ANC were privy to the contents of the dossier.

“I still need a copy to take forth what I have started with Bra Moss.

“I have knocked on several doors but my appeals for action to be taken fell on deaf ears,” he said.

For Phakoe’s family and friends, there were doubts whether anything will ever come out of the case he was killed for in his bid to expose corruption.

poloko.tau@inl.co.za

The Star