Roodefontein: 'Normal practice'
2003-10-16 20:25
Cape Town - The donation of cash by developers to
the New National Party (NNP), which has led the government in the Western Cape since 1994, was normal practice, says former Western Cape Premier Peter Marais.
Speaking to the Cape Town Press Club on Thursday, Marais, was reacting to the announcement that Count Riccardo Agusta pleaded guilty earlier on Thursday to corruption charges in a plea bargain agreement with the Scorpions over the Roodefontein case.
Marais acknowledged that he had sought the money from Agusta for the NNP but said that current Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk had known about it.
Marais, who left the NNP after the Roodefontein case became public knowledge, repeated on Thursday that the man who replaced him as Premier - NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk - had known about the donation from the count all along.
Speaking to journalists after the lunch, Marais was emphatic that Van Schalkwyk had in fact told him "Goeie werk, Peter" (Good work Peter) when he heard that the party had received the money from the count.
Marais, who is facing corruption charges and is on bail of R10nbsp;000, however, did not mince his words on Thursday.
"Marthinus never called me (at the time) and said where did you get the money. He never said why did you not tell me that you received money ... because he knew about it from the start."
"He said to me ... do you (Marais) think he (Van Schalkwyk) should report it before the DA (the official opposition Democratic Alliance) reports it and accuse him of having hidden this information from the public? (sic)"
"When I told him ... but you knew about it. How can he now let me sit with this thing. He said "nothing will come of this issue; you are not guilty of anything. Nothing will come of it."
"It went to the head council of the party in Marthinus's presence. I want to repeat that ... you (Van Schalkwyk) knew about it. In the presence of people
like (Member of Parliament) Martha Olckers, Sakkie Pretorius, Frik van Deventer and Ryno King, he said he knew about it."
But Marais added: "The party knew about it. The party benefited, it was not the first time that the party took money from developers. Leeuwenhof (the premier's official mansion in Cape Town) was the regular place of developers and the NP (New National Party) to solicit (from developers) whether you
have something in the pipeline or not."
He said there was no law preventing political parties from receiving monies from developers. "Developers give money to political parties, not only to the NNP... whether to the DA or the ANC. There is no law that says you can't take money from developers."
Marais said he had not benefited "a single cent" from the count personally.