A family feud about money is believed to have led to disclosure of alleged financial irregularities involving the Minister of Manpower, Pietie du Plessis. This week Du Plessis resigned from the cabinet and as MP for Lydenburg because of the "controversy surrounding his personal life". According to reliable sources, police last year stumbled on a dossier of documents when raiding the home of a former business associate of Du Plessis and his son, Johan.
The documents revealed details of a property transaction in Pretoria involving the Department of Manpower in the course of which Du Plessis' son is believed to have made a profit of as much as R2-million. They also contained references to what is believed to be a private family trust fund. The dossier was handed to the advocate general for investigation early in September, but nothing was heard of the investigation until late November, when the Sunday Times reported the investigation and quoted the AG as saying it was receiving his "urgent attention".
Weekly Mail has now established that in the same police raid the police seized other documents and many tape recordings of sensitive conversations. A search warrant on September 7 issued by the Pretoria North magistrate on authorised police to search the home of Joban Morsner at Plot 107 Hartbeeshoek, Akasia, and a house on his farm at Klaserie, near Hoedspruit. Morsner is Joban du Plessis' father-in-law and previously managed the property investment and development company, Natprops. The minister of manpower and the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr Jan Lombaard, together with their sons, held substantial interests in Natprops. According to the search warrant, the police were authorised to seize documents belonging to Johan du Plessis as well as documents be longing to the minister himself. The police were further authorised to seize tape recordings concerning "oil supplies to the RSA and conversations with Mr X".
Du Plessis was previously minister of mineral and energy affairs, in charge of oil supplies to South Africa. The warrant further states that these items were required in connection with the investigation of an alleged criminal offence. A similar search warrant was issued to search the home of "Ters" van Schalkwyk, former personal assistant and confidant of Johan Du Plessis. The warrants were issued after charges were laid by Johan du Plessis. At the time he had separated from his wife and negotiations for a divorce were in progress. His wife was living with her parents at Plot 107. Morsners' house was raided on the night of September 7 and again the following morning. In the course of the raids the police seized about 60 tape recordings and various documents. They also seized the file concerning the now controversial property transactions.
The police team was led by a Major Raubenheimer from the Sunnyside police station. On September 9 Morsner brought an urgent court application in the Pretoria Supreme Court against the minister of law and order, as well as against Raubenheimer, for the return of the tapes and documents. When the case came before court on September 14, Advocate Piet Ebersohn, SC, intervened on behalf of Du Plessis junior.
Counsel for Du Plessis immediately applied for the case to be conducted in camera. In support of this application an affidavit from the minister himself was filed in which it was, inter alia, alleged that it was not in the national interest that the contents of the case should become known, particularly so shortly before the municipal elections on October 26. This application was granted. The hearing of the merits of the application was postponed to a later date. For the past month Pietie du Plessis has been subjected to gruelling interrogations on several occasions by the advocate general. The outcome of this investigation is awaited. – Martin Welz
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.