19 August 2007
The SACP has taken very seriously allegations about a missing financial donation supposedly contributed to the Party in 2002. We have taken every measure available to us to get to the bottom of these allegations. Our general secretary, comrade Blade Nzimande, categorically affirms that he has no knowledge whatsoever of a cash donation of R500,000 allegedly made by Charles Modise. We have been in contact with our former Treasurer, Philip Dexter, who has told us that he has submitted an affidavit to the SAPS indicating that he, too, has no knowledge of such a donation and that, prior to his suspension as Treasurer, he had scrutinised the SACP bank statements and found no record of this donation.
We also need to point out that at the time this donation was made, the National Treasurer of the SACP was Cde Thaba Mufamadi, not Phillip Dexter. Therefore the notion that Dexter rather than Mufamadi should have received or acknowledged the donation is a misnomer. The SACP has engaged, Cde Thaba Mufamadi and has told us that he is not aware of such a donation nor was he ever informed about it by any Party leader.
We have also been in touch with Charles Modise’s lawyers. It should be stressed that at no point has Modise had any formal contact with the SACP national leadership about this matter. Last week Modise, acting through his lawyer, stated that he had not laid any criminal charge with the police against anyone in regard to this matter. In a meeting with the lawyer in question, the Party was able to confirm that this had, indeed, been the position of Modise. However, Modise has now replaced this lawyer with new legal representation. We have reason to believe that this is another indication that third parties are anxious to keep this matter on the boil at all costs. We have been in touch with the new lawyers, but so far these contacts have met with a cursory response.
We understand from the media that former SACP Central Committee member, cde Willie Madisha, has also submitted an affidavit to the SAPS, apparently confirming that he took possession of a substantial cash donation from Modise in 2002, and that he forwarded this donation to its “intended” recipient. Madisha has never raised this matter formally with the SACP, nor has he submitted any relevant documentation to the SACP leadership.
We are very anxious to meet with cde Madisha so that he can provide us with a first hand account of his understanding of this matter. Since the allegations first surfaced in the aftermath of our 12th National Congress in July, we have repeatedly endeavoured, through our chairperson, cde Gwede Mantashe, to set up a meeting with Madisha. Despite many promises to get back to us, so far nothing has transpired. In the course of this CC meeting, we once again contacted Madisha who indicated that he was not available this weekend as he is in Limpopo. He promised to be in touch with us tomorrow, Monday.
We look forward to this meeting. One of the clarifications that we will be seeking will be cde Madisha’s recollection of the Central Committee meeting of the 23rd -25th August 2002. This was the first meeting of the previous Central Committee following our 11th National Congress in July 2002. The alleged donation was made in the run-up to this Congress. At the 23-25 August 2002 CC, a finance report was tabled and it dealt, amongst other things, with donations raised by CC members. Next to cde Madisha’s name is a sum of R50,000. It is a sum that was duly recorded and deposited. The minutes show that cde Madisha was present at this meeting of the CC, but there is no record of his having raised any objection to the record of donations raised.
The SACP is determined to do all in its power to get to the bottom of this matter. The CC has appointed a task team under our National Treasurer, cde Phumulo Masualle, to pursue this task.
Apart from receiving and contributing to the above report from the officials, the CC also raised very serious concerns around the role of certain sections of the media. One or two senior journalists at the SABC, with or without the encouragement of their bosses, have displayed great zeal in using the allegations to stir up intra-alliance tensions. They will not succeed in this agenda.
It is, however, the Mail & Guardian that has been particularly unprincipled and unethical in this and other recent stories relating to the SACP. In the run-up to our July Congress, the Mail & Guardian had a banner headline splashed across its posters and a front-page story peddling scurrilous disinformation about our general secretary’s salary and lifestyle. The facts were wrong and the Mail & Guardian had not even bothered to verify basic information with the SACP head-office. The newspaper subsequently retracted the story and apologised. But the retraction and apology virtually required a magnifying glass to read and certainly came nowhere near undoing the banner-headline damage.
Undaunted, the Mail & Guardian then jumped into the Modise cash donation story and out-did its market-place rivals by adding another R500,000 donation, in this case from Limpopo, supposedly delivered to our general secretary’s home by SACP provincial secretary, cde Justice Pitso and CC member, cde Joyce Moloi. The Mail & Guardian did not bother to contact Moloi, and although it recorded Pitso’s outright denial of any such donation, nonetheless trumpeted this additional claim in its story. Their unnamed source (perhaps the same consistently unreliable source for their earlier retracted story?) was good enough for them.
The Mail & Guardian also claimed that there were other unaccounted for donations, including one from the Chinese Communist Party. The SACP has indeed received donations from the CPC and also from other South African sources. We wish to record our gratitude to these donors. Both the Party and its donors quite correctly insist on receipts being signed any time a donation is handed over. All donations received have been fully recorded in the SACP’s financial statements.
We know that our friends and supporters will understand exactly the nature and circumstances of the present disinformation campaign waged against our Party and its leading officials. We know that they will understand that this is a back-handed compliment to the growing impact and influence of our Party in a period of our country’s history in which the political climate is seriously contaminated. We urge our members, our supporters, our allies, our colleagues in the media, and the public at large to be vigilant about factionally-inspired disinformation campaigns. Let us collectively remain focused on the key challenges of our society – poverty, inequality and the all-round crisis of underdevelopment.
Issued by the SACP
For information Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson
082 226 1802