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SACP wants clarity over scandal
03/03/2008 11:50 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The SA Communist Party has asked the police to finalise its investigation into a donation scandal after an audit the SACP commissioned cleared their secretary general Blade Nzimande, a party statement read on Monday.
"We call on the SAPS to bring this matter to finality and particularly to investigate the probability that both (Charles) Modise and (Willie) Madisha have involved themselves in serious perjury," the statement continued.
"The SACP has already indicated that we have done everything in our power to get to the bottom of this matter and that we can find absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Charles Modise (currently in detention in Kimberley) ever made a donation of R500 000 to the SACP and still less that Willie Madisha passed on this amount to our general secretary, Blade Nzimande."
This followed an independent audit by SAB&T Chartered Accountants.
No proof
"No tangible and corroborating evidence could be located and / or traced so as to substantiate the allegation made by Mr Madisha."
Madisha was axed as Cosatu president last Wednesday.
The axing was because he had become isolated from the party leadership, Cosatu said.
Last year Modise laid a complaint against the SACP claiming to have made the donation to the party in 2002. He claimed he gave the money, packed in black plastic bags, to Madisha, who in turn said he transported the money in the boot of his car to Nzimande.
The SACP said possible witnesses mentioned by Madisha in his various statements could not be interviewed as Madisha would not direct them to them.
"It would not have been financially judicious to make more effort to trace these possible witnesses as their possible contribution to a more positive conclusion of the investigation is seriously doubted."
The SACP condemned "the manner in which sections of the media, notably the SABC, continued to refer to this matter as 'the R500 000 donation to the SACP' as if this was a reality".
It was concerned that Cosatu's move was seen as a "move against a whistleblower".
SACP spokesperson Malesela Ledwaba said that the audit report would not be made public.
Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini hoped to provide an update on the status of the investigation later on Monday.
Meanwhile, the SACP had instituted disciplinary proceedings against Madisha, a member.
Madisha was also suspended as president of the SA Democratic Teachers' Union in December. Union spokesperson Thulas Nxesi said this was for contradicting the union's position on the choice of the "top six" African National Congress candidates ahead of its national conference in Limpopo in December. The process related to this was also under way.
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