Bantu Holomisa challenges Nelson Mandela’s assertions in Edinburgh this week that he has no list of ANC spies. Wally Mbhele reports
President Nelson Mandela has on more than one occasion reprimanded executive members of the African National Congress, saying he has their files and knows who among them are spies.
This dramatic allegation was made by Bantu Holomisa this week. He was a member of the ANC’s national executive committee at the time he claims Mandela made the remarks.
Holomisa’s allegation contradicts Mandela’s assertions in Edinburgh this week that he has no list of spies. Mandela said he believes the Pan Africanist Congress’s claims that several high-profile ANC officials spied for apartheid is mere politicking.
Adding a new twist to the debate, Holomisa challenged all the ANC officials named in Parliament by PAC MP Patricia de Lille to subject themselves to a lie-detector test if they wanted to prove their innocence.
Among others, De Lille named Minister of Public Enterprises Stella Sigcau, Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna, Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs Peter Mokaba, Deputy Minister of Intelligence Services Joe Nhlanhla and Minister of Defence Joe Modise. The ANC has denied De Lille’s claims and has challenged her to repeat the allegations outside Parliament.
“I challenge the ANC to deny that Mandela has never told them about his knowledge that some national executive committee members were apartheid agents,” said Holomisa.
Entering the fray, Holomisa revealed that an angry Mandela told a stunned executive committee meeting held in Bellville, Cape Town, in January 1996 “they should not forget that he now has access to their files.
“He reminded us that we shouldn’t talk too much because he knows some of us were working for the state,” Holomisa said. “He could not just have said that. It means Madiba knows.”
Holomisa claims Mandela had repeated the statement about having access to the files more than once at the meeting.
He says although he has previously challenged the ANC on Mandela’s statements, the party has never denied that Mandela had made the threat. “Now, the onus is on all those who have been accused of spying to clear their names. If Maduna and others want to come clean beyond any reasonable doubt, the onus is on them to subject themselves to a lie-detector test,” he said.
Holomisa added that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission could not investigate the spy claims as it had already set a precedent when it refused his request to investigate whether the former Natal Midlands strongman, Sifiso Nkabinde, was a spy.
Nkabinde, who is now facing several charges of murder, was expelled from the ANC on claims that he was a spy. He later joined Holomisa’s new political movement.
So far, Nkabinde has been the only leader the ANC has expelled from its ranks on accusations of spying for the previous government.
ANC representative Ronnie Mamoepa denied Holomisa’s allegations, saying Mandela “has spoken the last word on the matter. There is nothing for us to add as the president has rested his case in respect of recent allegations against senior ANC members.”
Mamoepa has previously challenged the PAC to produce its sources, and has warned the allegations are “libellous”.
De Lille’s catalogue of alleged spies has caused ripples in political circles since rumours started circulating that Mandela and his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, are in possession of a list of all senior ANC officials who were on the payroll of the previous National Party government.
It also followed a series of sensational rumours “insinuating” that the ANC’s rejection of PAC leader Stanley Mogoba as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on intelligence was based on suspicions that the former Methodist cleric was an apartheid spy.
Former Vlakplaas hit-squad operative Joe Mamasela has also previously alleged that he knows of at least five serving Cabinet ministers who were on the payroll of the security police.