Justice Minister Penuell Maduna has called on Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon to apologise for remarks he made about Judge Siraj Desai at a gathering at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday.
Maduna — through his representative Paul Setetse — 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.”
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.
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.
Leon said the Desai commission was ”utterly unnecessary,” given that the matter of the inquiry was being investigated by the Scorpions and the trustees of Harksen’s estate.
He said the ANC had allegedly received R100 000 from Harksen,” and yet no commission of inquiry has been set up to investigate that allegation”.
Leon accused the ANC and the NNP of using Harksen to destroy the opposition movement in South Africa. He said Marais’ extension of the terms of reference of the Desai commission to investigate the alleged donation from Harksen to the DA, was a clear attempt to damage the party.
”The immediate objective (of the inquiry), quite clearly, is to damage the DA as much as possible on the eve of the promulgation of floor crossing legislation, so that the African National Congress and New National Party alliance can maximise their chances of taking control of the city of Cape Town,” Leon said.
”The NNP and the ANC are desperate to get their hands on Cape Town because it is the last remaining major centre of opposition power in South Africa.”
NNP executive director Renier Schoeman called for the DA to place Leon on leave until an investigation was held into the allegations that he was involved with Harksen.
”Tony Leon’s desperate attempts to criticise anyone and everyone for the disastrous situation in which he and the DA currently find themselves, cannot divert attention from the real issue — that the DA leader and the DA were involved in questionable practices which potentially include actions that were criminal,” Schoeman said.
”Mr Leon’s personal involvement in the Harksen scandal has unmasked the real Tony Leon — a political swindler who may well have been involved in serious corruption.” – Sapa