THURSDAY, 4.00PM
MPUMALANGA safety and security MEC Steve Mabona finally appeared before the Moldenhauer Commission into fake drivers licences, quoting biblical phrases and insisting that the special treatment given to parliamentary Deputy Speaker Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile was reasonable.
Mabona, who failed to appear last week due to “stress”, said the deputy speaker deserved to be transported at state expense as a sign of respect. “Even though this was a personal matter, it was an official trip and it is right and proper that the taxpayer should pay for it because both Mbete-Kgositsile and I are civil servants 24-hours a day and have to be guarded,” he said. Mabona did confirm that he personally organised for Mbete-Kgositsile to be tested because of her “tight schedule”, but was unable to explain why she had not been tested nearer her office in Cape Town. “Is this not just re-inforcing the image that it is easier to get your licence in this province than elsewhere in South Africa?” asked magistrate Heinrich Moldenhauer.
Mabona was unable to explain why no official records had been kept of Mbete-Kgositsile’s tests, why fees were only paid a month after the licence was issued and why the licence was only sent to the Department of Home Affairs six months later. He was also unable to explain why copies of all documentation were suddenly faxed through to Mbete-Kgositsile immediately after The Sunday Times broke the story.
“I am shocked and very surprised. This is wrong. And it is the first time I have seen this type of thing. We have a problem with our management,” he said.
Mabona criticised provincial traffic director Henry Brazer, whom he accused of misleading him by insisting that everything had been legal and “above board”. Moldenhauer warned that he would not hesitate to take “the strongest possible action” should anyone who testified before the commission be victimised or otherwise compromised.