Winnie to seek further appeal

2004-07-05 12:22

Pretoria - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is to challenge the Pretoria High Court's partial dismissal of her appeal against a fraud and theft conviction on Monday.

"I have instructed my lawyers to appeal against a judgment that is completely wrong," the former African National Congress Women's League president told reporters outside the court.

Judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann earlier dismissed Madikizela-Mandela's appeal against her conviction on 43 fraud charges, but upheld her challenge against 25 counts of theft.

He replaced her four-year sentence - of which eight months were to have been served in jail - with a wholly suspended one.

The judge found that the trial court had been correct in holding that Madikizela-Mandela's evidence on the fraud charges could not be reasonably possibly true.

Her co-accused, financial services broker Addy Moolman, also had the 25 theft charges against him quashed. But his appeal against his conviction on 58 fraud charges was also dismissed.

Moolman's effective five-year jail sentence was reduced by one year.

The fraud charges relate to loans obtained from the now-defunct Saambou Bank for non-ANCWL employees using letters on league letterheads bearing Madikizela-Mandela's signature. The letters fraudulently stated the applicants were employed by the ANCWL.

The theft charges pertained to amounts of R360 deducted from loan applicants' bank accounts for a funeral policy that did not exist.

Asked how she felt after the judgment, Madikizela-Mandela said: "I am as fine as I've always been."

Moolman too, said he would seek a further appeal.

"This is a travesty of justice," he said when leaving the court. "I will do everything I can against that. I will go as far as justice can take me."

- SAPA