Winnie must wait for judgment

2004-06-21 18:29

Pretoria - The ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who went before Pretoria High Court on Monday to appeal against her five-year sentence for fraud and theft, will have to wait until July 5 to hear the judgment.

Madikizela-Mandela, the former president of the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL), was convicted in April last year on 43 charges of fraud and 25 of theft totalling R1m.

Her lawyer, Ishmael Semenya, told the court she was only trying to help her clients when she obtained fraudulent bank loans for them by creating ficticious ANCWL employees.

"The only thing she was trying to do was a valiant attempt to create a credible system for people who would not otherwise be able to approach a bank to obtain financing," Semenya said.

"There was an attempt to address a very critical social need. She tried to do social good and there was no attempt at self-enrichment."

The charges against Madikizela-Mandela and her fellow-accused, broker Addy Moolman, also pertain to Moolman arranging for premiums to be deducted from the loan applicants' bank accounts for non-existent funeral policies.

Semenya argued that Madikizela-Mandela did not receive a fair trial and that the magistrate had made a "credibility finding" against her before she even testified.

But he added that if the appeal against her conviction was unsuccessful, Madikizela-Mandela's entire sentence should be suspended because "if you have an applicant who's a great-grandmother this (imprisonment) is not a proper thing".

Moolman was convicted alongside Madikizela-Mandela and was sentenced to seven years in prison, of which two were suspended. Both are out on bail pending the outcome of the appeal.

The prosecution opposed her appeal application, saying "she made a particularly bad impression in the witness box" and that "it was clear that she changed her evidence in order to protect herself".

The court reserved judgment until July 5.

- SAPA