Tony Leon, leader of the Democratic Alliance, on Friday suggested that a judicial commission of inquiry be appointed to investigate the allegations published in the Mail & Guardian that Imvume Management — the company that channelled R11-million in state oil money to the African National Congress before the 2004 election — was effectively a front for the ruling party.
Leon said in a statement: “Oilgate is now the biggest political corruption scandal since the Info saga of 1978.
“Today’s latest well-documented revelations on Oilgate — the ANC’s elaborate scheme to defraud the taxpayer of millions of rands in order to fund its election machine — are breathtaking.
“Nothing other than an independent judicial commission of inquiry with powers of search and subpoena will satisfy the public disquiet that there is indeed something fundamentally rotten at the heart of the governing party.
“We need to douse the fires of suspicion — that our highest public offices, our much-vaunted foreign policy and the worthy ideals of BEE [black economic empowerment] have all been perverted and abused to meet the funding needs of the majority party.
“There is no knowing where Oilgate might lead — or end — despite the energetic and desperate efforts of the individuals named and implicated to cover up and the ANC’s attempts to stonewall.
Leon said South Africa also needs clarity on whether Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka made “full disclosure and gave a truthful account of her role in Oilgate, prior to her appointment”.
“The president cannot be seen to have practised selective justice by, quite correctly, dismissing deputy president [Jacob] Zuma for the stain of corruption around his office and then refusing to investigate his successor.
The DA leader said the ANC’s “unsavoury linkages with the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and his cohort Tariq Aziz, both of whom are being charged with crimes against humanity, suggests that our foreign policy was sold in order to enrich ANC election coffers”.
ID calls for Scorpions investigation
Patricia de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats, said: “What I am seeing here, there definitely seems to be a direct link to the ANC and this company.
“The Independent Democrats congratulates the M&G for its meticulous investigative journalism. The watchdog role played by independent press will deepen and strengthen our young democracy.
“Since proof of wrongdoing has now been uncovered by the M&G report, it is now incumbent upon the Scorpions to properly investigate and prosecute those alleged to be involved, like the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] has done with Schabir Shaik and Jacob Zuma,” said De Lille.
A statement issued on Friday by Willie Spies, Freedom Front Plus spokesperson for minerals and energy, stated: “The Freedom Front Plus will be asking the Public Protector, Advocate Lawrence Mushwana, to broaden his investigation into the so-called Oilgate scandal to also include the involvement of the ANC and senior government officials with Imvume Management.”
ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama was not available for comment on Friday morning.
Siyabonga Mahlangu, from Mahlangu Nkomo Mabandla Ratshimbilani attorneys, the law firm representing the ANC, said the Mail & Guardian is not utilising the discovery process in court.
Mahlangu added that the documents in possession of the M&G “need to be cross-examined in court” and that the newspaper is being “disingenuous” about the whole process.
“They are supposed to disclose” these documents in court but “they have not”, said Mahlangu.
He said that he has been in contact with the M&G‘s lawyers and will proceed with the case as soon as his client instructs him to do so.