The Pretoria High Court dismissed an appeal on Friday by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and broker Addy Moolman against their fraud convictions.
Moolman sought leave to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to challenge his 58 fraud convictions and four-year prison sentence, and Madikizela-Mandela wanted to appeal her suspended sentence on 43 counts.
Judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann ruled that another court is unlikely to come to a different conclusion.
The pair was initially also found guilty of 25 charges of theft but the theft counts were dropped on appeal to the Pretoria High Court last July. Moolman’s sentence was then reduced from five years’ imprisonment and Madikizela’s from an effective eight months.
Bertelsmann described Moolman as a discredited witness and dismissed his pleas of innocence.
”The probabilities of his version being true are so slim that it is unlikely in the extreme that another court would come to a different conclusion from the trial court on this issue,” he said.
The fraud relates to loans obtained on behalf of non-existent African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) employees from Saambou Bank.
The loans were approved on the basis of letters on ANCWL letterheads signed by Madikizela-Mandela, the league’s president at the time, falsely stating that the applicants were employed by the league.
Bertelsmann said it is improbable that Madikizela-Mandela would have signed the letters, as she claimed, without knowing their contents.
The judge said it is clear that Moolman played a bigger role in the fraud than Madikizela-Mandela and that the discrepancy in their sentences is therefore justified.
Moolman, he said, was driven by personal interest and greed.
Madikizela-Mandela’s role was much more passive and she did not gain any personal advantage from the crimes.
”Indeed, account must be taken of the fact that she did help poor people to obtain loans, however misguided and dishonest that action may have been,” Bertelsmann said.
Advocates for the two said they have not yet received instructions on a possible petition directly to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Moolman indicated he might apply for bail later on Friday pending that decision. — Sapa