Facing 21 counts of theft and fraud, Dr Allan Boesak can count on the support of the ANCdespite opposition party outrage, reports Rehana Rossouw
PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA has offered to testify as a character witness for Dr Allan Boesak, close friends of the former African National Congress Western Cape chair said this week.
Boesak – facing fraud and theft charges – met Mandela at the president’s request for two hours last Sunday, shortly after arriving back in Cape Town from the United States.
Mandela’s representative Parks Mankahlana would not confirm or deny whether the offer to testify had been made. But the Mail & Guardian has established from several sources that the offer was made and accepted.
The ANC’s support for Boesak has outraged its opponents, but the organisation is standing by its decision, based on the principle that the former leader is innocent until proven guilty.
Boesak – who returned after nearly two years in the US – faces 21 counts of theft and fraud of more than R1-million, involving foreign donor money administered by the Foundation for Peace and Justice (FPJ), where he was director. Boesak will plead not guilty when he appears in the Cape High Court on August 4. His co-accused is former FPJ director Freddie Steenkamp.
Despite the ANC’s support, some Western Cape party supporters believe the organisation should do more for Boesak. Members in the Peninsula’s northern suburbs – where Boesak once lived and worked – said the ANC’s support was limited to “cheap words”.
“We helped Allan’s daughter Belen raise money for busses at the last minute to get supporters to the airport. The ANC’s provincial executive did nothing to help,” said a senior Bellville ANC member.
“Then, when they saw how many people were at the airport, they hijacked the gathering because the ANC has not been able to attract such large non-racial crowds for years. The people came for Boesak, not for the ANC.”
ANC Western Cape representative Brent Simons dismissed these sentiments, saying the organisation began discussing Boesak’s return at its first provincial executive committee meeting this year. “By February the ANC had discussed it in all its structures and resolved to support Boesak and welcome him in the way he deserved to be welcomed,” Simons said.
He said the ANC had not earmarked any funds for Boesak and therefore did not pay to bus his supporters to the airport, but had committed itself to supporting him “in whatever way was required”. Boesak had not requested financial support from the ANC.
Boesak’s friends said this week he had returned to South Africa “practically penniless”. Legal Aid was paying his legal costs, but this did not include his expenses when travelling to Pretoria to consult his lawyers.
A Cape Town businessman was paying for the Boesak family’s housing and living expenses and a committee has been established to raise more money for them. They have begun working on a fund-raising dinner at around R200 a head.
Boesak will also attempt to earn money while waiting for his trial to start in August, possibly on the lecture circuit. His friends say he will give talks on religious topics, but is unwilling to speak publicly about political issues.
The charges against him were formulated after a two-year investigation into foreign funds the FPJ administered, which allegedly did not reach the donors for whom it was intended. These included funds from Danchurch Aid, the Coca-Cola Foundation and singer Paul Simon.
After appearing briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Boesak was released on his own recognisance, with strict bail conditions. He had to surrender his passport, cannot leave the country without written permission from the attorney general and must report to the police every Sunday. He was also prohibited from communicating with 167 state witnesses, some of whom are his closest friends.
His return to Cape Town was vintage Boesak: being carried shoulder high at the airport to meet a thronging mass; wiping sweat off his brow as he whipped the crowd into a frenzy; and returning ardent hugs and kisses from ecstatic women.
At the magistrate’s court, the scene was eerily reminiscent of Boesak’s heydays in the struggle. At the end of his brief hearing, the freedom songs came wafting down the corridor and the pack of journalists outside sprung to attention.
First came the supporters – markedly representative of the politically polarised communities in the Cape – garbed in ANC colours, toyi-toying out of the court. Then Boesak appeared and was mobbed on the steps. He adroitly managed both to return the hugs and address the media.