The African National Congress (ANC) has yet to decide when its national executive committee (NEC) will meet to discuss a report into last year’s hoax e-mail saga.
The NEC was discussing the matter on Monday, said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.
It has not yet been decided whether it will take place this weekend — as has been reported. The date will be announced, he said.
The Sunday Times has described the e-mail findings as ”make or break” for the ANC presidential race.
It reported that the findings could make it difficult for President Thabo Mbeki and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma to stand for re-election at the national conference in December.
According to the newspaper, the internal inquiry into the e-mails looked at all leadership squabbles in the ANC since its unbanning, and the investigation of three prominent party leaders over a plot to oust Mbeki in 2001.
It heard from, among others, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Zuma and ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe.
Mbeki fired National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha over the e-mail saga in March last year. Charges have since been brought against him and two others in this regard.
The hoax e-mails implicated senior ANC members in a conspiracy against Zuma and Motlanthe. However, a formal probe later found that the e-mails were fabricated.
The court case involving Masetlha and two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria commercial crimes court last Friday.
Masetlha’s co-accused, Muziwendoda Kunene, a software salesperson, and Funokwakhe Madladla, the former National Intelligence Agency manager for electronic surveillance, have already been charged with fraud.
Masetlha was added as an accused in December last year.
Masetlha’s attorney, Imraan Haffejee, asked that his bail conditions be amended so that he could travel to KwaZulu-Natal to visit his parents-in-law without asking the investigating officer’s permission.
Masetlha also asked to be allowed to communicate with Motlanthe, who is a witness in the case.
”Motlanthe and Masetlha have political duties in common and they serve together in various committees so I ask that the two be allowed to communicate without the accused discussing the merits of the case,” Haffejee said.
Masetlha’s bail conditions forbid him from communicating with any witness in the case, applying for a new passport, changing his address or travelling out of Gauteng and North-West provinces without the approval of the investigating officer.
The requested amendments were granted, but Masetlha must inform the investigating officer before travelling to KwaZulu-Natal. — Sapa