/ 28 June 2000

WILLIAMS SENTENCED TO JAIL TERM

FORMER welfare minister Abe Williams has been sentenced to three years in jail for corruption. Williams, a National Party politician who served in South Africa’s first post-apartheid cabinet, was last week found guilty in the Cape High Court on 36 charges of theft and four charges of corruption relating to a total of R508254. Judge Cleaver gave Williams a suspended sentence for the theft counts, which relate to donations he kept for himself, but were intended for his political activities. Williams was released on bail of R1000 pending an application for leave to appeal against his convictions and sentence.

27