The dirty war in the New National Party is expected to escalate when former deputy minister David Malatsi and former Western Cape premier Peter Marais appear before a party disciplinary hearing over corruption in a controversial golf development with apparent Mafia connections.
On Tuesday Malatsi promised a fight to the end. ”I am resigning [as deputy social development minister] because I want to clear my name, and I don’t want to embarrass the government and the president … through the actions I intend taking against the NNP,” he said.
”There is only one person that is clean — that is God.”
The NNP has called on five senior members to head the disciplinary process, which must be completed by February 21. Though the charges have not been publicised, they are likely to include bringing the party into disrepute and abuse of party funds.
Malatsi and Marais were suspended last Friday. It had emerged that Malatsi, then Western Cape environmental affairs MEC, had overruled his department to approve a golf estate development by Count Riccardo Agusta days after he gave R300 000 to the provincial NNP in April last year. Agusta is a relative and business partner of the alleged Mafioso Vito Palazzolo.
Last weekend the NNP revealed that Malatsi had used R18 000 of another gift of R100 000 to the Khayelitsha NNP office to repay accommodation costs incurred during the World Summit on Sustainable Development. An investigation by the provincial forensic audit unit late in November showed that Malatsi’s wife Julia owned the accommodation establishment.
Malatsi said the R18 000 from the Khayelitsha account was a private personal loan. The Western Cape NNP constitution stipulates that party funds may not be used for purposes other than NNP business.
Describing the disciplinary proceedings as a ”kangaroo court”, Malatsi accused elements in the NNP of racism after announcing his decision to ask the president to release him from his deputy ministerial duties. A week earlier he had defied an agreement with his party boss to step down.
Apart from the in-camera disciplinary hearing, the corruption saga will play out before the Public Protector, who is also considering Marthinus van Schalkwyk’s role. It may reach court if the prosecution authorities decide to pursue criminal charges the Democratic Alliance laid last week against Malatsi, Marais and the count. The NNP has also laid charges against Malatsi and Marais.
Meanwhile, construction at the golf estate in an ecologically sensitive area near Plettenberg Bay was halted this week pending a full review of the approval in the Cape High Court from February 20.