STEFAANS BRMMER and JASON BLATT, Johannesburg | Friday
THE African National Congress accepted at least $10-million in 1994 from a Taiwanese government slush fund set up to promote the interests of that country against those of mainland China.
Revelations about the donation -confirmed by the former Taiwanese ambassador to South Africa – again raise the question whether the ANC has allowed party financial considerations to influence state policy.
The political establishment in the capital, Taipei, was rocked this week by exposs on the secret fund, set up by former president Lee Teng-hui. Next magazine wrote on Wednesday that the T$3,5-billion (roughly R1-billion) fund had been used since 1994 to spy and to conduct secret diplomatic efforts – and that the ANC was among the first beneficiaries. Taipei has over the years fought a losing battle for diplomatic recognition over Beijing.
Taiwanese prosecutors on Wednesday raided the offices of Next magazine and seized thousands of copies, attempting to stop publication “to maintain national security”. But some copies of the magazine, which published leaked Taiwanese National Security Bureau documents, did reach the street. And a daily, the China Times, carried a parallel story with information provided by a dissident National Security Bureau agent.
Apartheid South Africa had close relations with Taipei. The ANC signalled in the run-up to the 1994 election that a new government was likely to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing, an ally during the liberation struggle.
But that eventually occurred only on January 1 1998 – after prolonged debate within the ANC. Nelson Mandela said in August 1996 that it would be “immoral” to drop his friends in Taiwan – a surprising statement since relations between the apartheid government and Taipei had been so cosy.
The Next article said: “Diplomatic sources also said that in 1994, in order to maintain diplomatic relations with South Africa, President Lee Teng-hui agreed to have the National Security Bureau transfer funds to the ANC.”
The China Times article went further, alleging an explicit agreement between Taiwan and the ANC that an amount would be paid to the party in exchange for South Africa not changing diplomatic allegiance in the short term.
Relying on statements and documents it said came from Colonel Liu Kuan-chun, a National Security Bureau agent who went into hiding after being accused of stealing from the bureau’s secret fund, the newspaper said: “In May of 1994, then-President Lee Teng-hui went to South Africa to attend the inauguration ceremony of president-elect Nelson Mandela.
“As [the ANC] had always enjoyed a good relationship with the Chinese communists, there were many voices within the party strongly advocating the immediate establishment of diplomatic relations with China. At that time, Mandela indicated to Lee Teng-hui that South Africa was preparing to cut relations with Taiwan and establish relations with China.
“But afterwards, the secretary general of South Africa’s ruling party proposed conditions to us, saying that if Taiwan would give South Africa $20-million, South Africa would continue to maintain relations with Taiwan for a year-and-a-half to two years longer. Lee Teng-hui agreed, and after some bargaining over the price, both sides finally agreed on a figure of $11-million.”
Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC secretary general at the time, on Thursday denied any knowledge of such a deal. “I didn’t deal with money matters when I was secretary general, and secondly I didn’t deal with foreign matters … It was never in my terrain.” Ramaphosa said Thomas Nkobi, the late former treasurer general, would have handled foreign donations if they occurred.
Nkobi, indeed, has been drawn into the matter. Loh I-cheng, the former Taiwanese ambassador to South Africa, confirmed in an interview published on Thursday in the Taiwanese United Daily News that both he and Nkobi were involved. He confirmed $10-million funding to the ANC – brought in in three cash consignments – but he denied that maintaining diplomatic relations was an explicit part of the deal.
Loh said that Nkobi had asked him for help a month or two before Lee’s trip to South Africa to attend Mandela’s inauguration. “The reason was that the ANC had campaign debts of around $20-million. At the time, Malaysia was willing to provide $10-million. Nkobi asked me if our country could possibly help them.”
Loh said he had found out that Beijing had two years earlier also donated $10-million. The Taiwanese president asked during his 1994 visit how diplomatic relations could be strengthened. “I recalled Nkobi’s remarks, and recommended that we could provide help in order to balance things out.”
Loh said Lee immediately agreed. “And then when I met with President Mandela on June 20 of that same year, I brought up this matter with him. He was very surprised to hear about this, yet also very pleased. It turned out that Nkobi had still not told him. At the time, Mandela was very grateful to our country, and thanked me profusely.
“Reports are saying that South Africa threatened to cut relations with us in order to get this money. This is absolute nonsense. Someone was dispatched from [Taiwan] to carry the funds to me, brought in cash, in three separate trips to South Africa. At the time, it was quite troublesome to convert all the cash into South African currency.”
Taiwan, regarded as a pariah state much as apartheid South Africa was, has been accused before of cheque-book diplomacy. When South Africa first announced its intention in November 1996 to drop Taipei in favour of Beijing, Taiwan suspended $300-million in economic aid and investment in a $3,5-billion petrochemical plant.
Mandela’s office on Thursday said he was unavailable for comment and referred the Mail & Guardian to the ANC leadership. ANC national representative Smuts Ngonyama said as it was a public holiday he could not verify the information at short notice and thus had no comment.
Additional reporting by Thebe Mabanga and Paul Kirk