WALLY MBHELE, Johannesburg | Friday 10.30am.
EMBATTLED Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa is set to be discharged of his duties next month as premier and African National Congress provincial chair when the party meets to finalise its list of parliamentary candidates.
The ANC committee investigating the causes of infighting among ANC heavyweights in Mpumalanga — which is scheduled to complete its work in two weeks — will accuse Phosa, among other offences, of bringing the name of the ANC into disrepute. Sources in the ANC say that besides suspicions that Phosa knew of the Dolphin corruption scandal, he also allegedly conspired with unnamed ANC officials and black journalists to produce “false propaganda” against ANC president Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Jacob Zuma.
Mbeki’s office is believed to be in possession of a letter written to President Nelson Mandela by the shady Dolphin Group asking about a substantial kickback the company claims to have donated to the Mpumalanga ANC after securing exclusive rights to Mpumalanga’s game parks. Some ANC sources say the amouint of the kickback was R50000, while others claim it was R150000. The ANC national office denied receiving the money. Despite two weeks of questioning, the Dolphin Group refused to confirm or deny the money was paid to the ANC. But sources at Dolphin say it was at least one payment of R50000.
Phosa’s desperate grip on power began to weaken this week when the ANC lifted his suspension of three MECs he fired last year, pending an investigation into alleged corruption. Of the three reinstated MECs, two are implicated in a series of corruption scandals currently being investigated by the Heath special investigation unit.