Security at the offices of former Western Cape director-general Dr Niel Barnard was upgraded after information that he might be on a hit list, the Desai Commission heard on Monday.
Gary Oliver who headed the DG’s office until October 1 2000, told the commission that he was once approached by a captain from the police protection services. The captain said there were fears for Barnard’s safety and that the DG’s name might be on a hit list.
”He came to see me in my office and he told me we needed to take precautions about Dr Barnard’s safety,” Oliver said.
He did not ask whose hit list it was and doubted he would have been told if he had asked. Oliver said he went to speak to Barnard about the matter and Barnard appeared less concerned than he was.
Oliver said he had to ”virtually insist” on the installation of a video camera, which was used in combination with a buzzer to control entry to the DG’s suite of offices.
Oliver also told the commission he had two meetings with Barnard in Barnard’s bugging-proof strongroom in the heart of the legislature building.
The meetings had been about issues that could as easily have been discussed in another room. He had however noticed the controversial WatchDog electronic device on the wall of the room.
”When I came I initially thought it was a climate monitoring device,” he said. He found out only later what it really was.
Meanwhile, the slanging match between the Democratic Party and the African National Congress over the commission intensified, with the ANC calling on DP leader Tony Leon to ”stop clutching at straws” and trying to ”drag” everybody into the inquiry.
The ANC statement said Leon should own up to whether the DA took money from German tax fugitive Jurgen Harksen, or not.
Desai is currently the chairman of a commission appointed by Premier Peter Marais to investigate the bugging of offices in the Western Cape government. Marais however, had the commission’s terms of reference extended to investigate an alleged donation from German fugitive Jurgen Harksen to the DA.
”Why does he (Leon) suddenly become so hysterical about the Desai Commission. Is it because he has something to hide. Why does he not simply answer the question: no, we did not take the money or, yes, we took the money out of our desperation to nudge the ANC out of the Western Cape and the city of Cape Town,” the ANC statement said.
”Tony Leon must tell the world why he saw nothing wrong in the DA appointing Judge Heath to investigate the issue of the renaming of streets in Cape Town, and yet sees a lot wrong in the appointment of Judge Desai to look into the alleged underhand dealings between the DA and Jurgen Harksen.
”Tony Leon must stop behaving like a cow suffering from Foot and Mouth disease, which moves from place to place, frothing from the mouth and in the process spreading the virus. He must stop his Foot and Mouth political crusade of spreading untruths about the Desai Commission.
”Come off it Mr Leon? Just tell the world what it is that you would not like to hear being told to the commission, and why. Stop chasing shadows that you know you will never catch,” the statement concluded.
Earlier on Monday, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said Leon should apologise for remarks he made about Judge Desai.
Maduna — through his representative Paul Setsetse — said Leon had undermined the integrity of the judge as a person and therefore should publicly retract his comments and apologise to the judge.
”It is outrageous for a leader of a political party to be attacking the judge personally,” Maduna said.
”Whilst we respect the right of people to freely express their views, it is however mind boggling for leaders to be misleading the public.”
Maduna said Desai was ”thoroughly screened and therefore appointed to that office by the most credible commission,” the Judicial Services Commission.
Leon in his speech on Sunday said Desai had run the commission ”inconsistently at best”.
He asked how Desai could have said, during testimony by the DA’s leader in the Western Cape, Hennie Bester on Tuesday last week, that it was not in the commission’s terms of reference to determine whether any money was given to the DA, and then on Thursday to ”actively prompt” Harksen to discuss whether he gave money to the DA.
”It is clear what Judge Desai was driving at, and Mr Harksen, once prompted, played his part,” Leon said.
”But what exactly did Judge Desai think he was doing? And what led him to change his mind about the acceptable parameters of his terms of reference between Tuesday and Thursday?”
Leon said at no point in the proceedings had Desai asked Harksen if he had ever given money to any other political party. Leon denied claims by Harksen that he (Leon) had known about financial donations allegedly made to the alliance by Harksen.
Harksen made the claim last week in testimony before the Desai Commission in Cape Town.
”It needs to be made clear at the outset that it would not be, in and of itself, a crime for the DA to have received money from Mr Harksen, although I do not believe it would be the right thing to do.”
”My point is that even if Mr Harksen’s allegation that I knew of a donation to the party were true, which of course it is not, it would really amount to nothing more than an opportunity for the ANC/NNP alliance to make some propaganda, which, given both parties’ history of raising money from dubious sources, would probably be counter-productive.”
Allegations surfaced in the Cape Times in April that Harksen had made donations to the DA in the Western Cape and to Cape Town mayor Gerald Morkel in his personal capacity. Morkel has consistently denied the allegations.
In his testimony at the Desai Commission, Harksen alleged Leon knew he had paid the costs of Morkel’s legal fees, which had been incurred when Morkel took the NNP to court for removing him as leader of the NNP in the Western Cape. – Sapa