Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s personal assistant told the Pretoria Regional Court on Thursday she ”quite correctly” put him straight when he raised concerns about letters allegedly used to fraudulently obtain loans from Saambou Bank.
Humphrey Mfalela, an LL.B graduate, testified for the State in the fraud and theft trial of the African National Congress Women’s League president and broker Addy Moolman.
Mfalela took a long time to answer questions and on more than one occasion stated that questions posed by prosecutor Jan Ferreira were difficult to answer.
Madikizela-Mandela and Moolman face 60 charges of fraud for allegedly securing loans for people by pretending to Saambou Bank they were ANCWL employees.
The State alleges that letters on ANCWL letterheads and with Madikizela-Mandela’s signature, stating that the loan applicants were league employees, were presented to Saambou with the applications.
The pair have also pleaded not guilty to 26 theft charges which relate to the deduction of premiums from loan applicants’ bank accounts for funeral policies that allegedly did not exist.
Mfalela said he was with Madikizela-Mandela when she attended a meeting with Saambou representatives in July 2000 to discuss the loan scheme. He was also a co-signatory of the letter of intent.
Asked what was discussed at the meeting, he said Saambou was having problems with its loan capacity and needed some assistance from Madikizela-Mandela.
Asked who would benefit from the loan scheme discussed, he said ANCWL members all over South Africa, and Saambou as a profit-making organisation.
Ferreira asked him whether he saw the applications.
”That is difficult to answer,” Mfalela replied.
”At one stage I saw the letters. They were of no concern to me because I was never involved with the scheme.”
When he raised his concerns about the letters with Madikizela-Mandela, she told him that was not his terrain of operation, he said.
Ferreira asked him what his concerns were about the letters.
Mfalela said he was under the impression that the ANCWL had a limited number of employees, but was ”quite correctly” told that it was a national organisation with provincial and regional levels and branches.
”I believe that was the spirit of the (loan scheme) agreement.”
The letters were written for people whom he did not see at the league offices.
”I was not a demigod to know each and every person in the ANCWL, which I understood.”
Asked how many ANCWL employees he knew, Mfalela answered: ”I am not qualified to answer that”.
ANCWL secretary Eunice Martins, with whom Mfalela shared an office, earlier testified the league had eight full-time employees.
The trial continues. – Sapa