'Spy' journo to attend hearing

2003-10-21 10:15

Bloemfontein - Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy said on Monday she will attend a public hearing of the Hefer Commission in Bloemfontein, as she was subpoenaed to do.

However, the former Sunday Times writer said, there was "no way" in which she would reveal her journalistic sources (during testimony before the commission).

Munusamy was the main author of a City Press report published on September 7, revealing allegations that the national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, had been an apartheid spy.

In the report it was alleged that Ngcuka had been investigated by the African National Congress as a suspected spy for the apartheid government.

Munusamy said on Monday there were different options she could choose when being called to testify this week before the commission. Her legal team was still debating which was best.

She had decided to attend because she was subpoenaed to appear and did not want to be arrested for the wrong reasons.

"There are at least 15 people whose identities I need to protect," she said when asked about her sources for the newspaper report.

She came upon them during the course of an investigation which started in early July and lasted almost two-and-a-half months, Munusamy said.

The commission's secretary, advocate John Bacon, confirmed on Monday that another journalist, Elias Maluleke of City Press, had been asked by the commission to testify.

Maluleke had not been subpoenaed yet. However, if he refused to appear, he would be summonsed to do so, Bacon said.

City Press acting editor Wally Mbhele was reported as saying he would not allow Maluleke to testify, even if he was subpoenaed.

The commission will commence public hearings at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Three people, whose identities the secretariat did not reveal, are expected to make submissions on Wednesday related to possible extension of the commission's terms of reference.

Testimony is expected to start on Thursday.

The commission, headed by retired chief justice Joos Hefer, was asked to determine whether Ngcuka was an apartheid spy and whether he has since abused his powers of office.

President Thabo Mbeki appointed the one-man judicial commission after the spying allegations against Ngcuka surfaced recently.

This happened shortly after it was announced that his directorate's Scorpions unit was investigating Deputy President Jacob Zuma for alleged bribery related to the country's multi-billion rand arms deal.

- SAPA