Stefaans Brummer
THE detailed information on Winnie Mandela’s alleged corruption supplied by police immediately after their raid on her house and other premises came as a surprise to many, not least of them Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi.
Police tend to play their cards close to their chest in investigations relating to corruption and fraud, lest their case be prejudiced in court. But even as the police action continued at Mandela’s house on Wednesday, police spokesmen made detailed claims about her having received R75 000 in bribes and that R32 000 a month more would have been coming her way.
A source close to Mufamadi said he was surprised by the amount of information supplied straight away by police investigators, but speculated that police wanted to make it clear from the start that they were not “dealing with something flimsy; that they were not just reacting to a rumour”.
Police spokesman Captain Dave Harrington, who was responsible for much of the original release at a press conference on Wednesday, confirmed this had been part of the reason. “We stuck out our necks reasonably far on this one, but we did it with the back-up of evidence. It was to show that we were not just again harassing her. We wanted people to see our actions (in raiding the properties) were justified.”
Harrington confirmed he and some colleagues had been called in by Mufamadi after the press conference, and that Mufamadi wanted to know how much they had told the media and why. “But he was satisfied with our explanation.” He said Mufamadi had known of the search warrants and that the raids had been planned, but he had not known the specific time.
Harrington added that the police were satisfied they could back the information they had handed out so far with documentation; even documents received before the raid. He said police were surprised “the type of thing said on the documentation had been committed to paper at all”.
It is understood the original source for the information against Mandela was Martin Radloff, shady Pretoria businessman and former fugitive from justice.
But Harrington said the original information had been strenthened by further investigation before the police action. “We did not rely on one source alone.”