Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha confirmed on Wednesday that he had handed over a R500Â 000 donation to South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande.
”I wish to emphasise that, yes, I received R500 000 and handed same to the general secretary of the SACP, comrade Blade Nzimande,” Madisha told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
”I am willing to go to the courts … and actually prove that indeed this did happen. I’m willing to stand in front of the courts and the Communist Party, my own organisation, and prove that, yes indeed, this did happen,” he said.
On Sunday, Nzimande denied ever receiving the R500Â 000 donation, which was allegedly made by businessman Charles Modise in 2002.
”I wish to place it on record that I have never received the alleged R500Â 000 from any person, as is alleged. As the SACP has said, this is part of a concerted smear campaign primarily directed at discrediting the image and reputation of the SACP and tarnishing my image and integrity,” he said in a statement.
Madisha said he had not instituted any charges with police and at no stage accused any person of wrongdoing. ”I provided a statement setting out the relevant sequence of events … confirming the receipt of the donation and the handing over of same.”
‘Rubbish’ allegations
Madisha accused the SACP of branding him as ”the instigator of a smear campaign”, adding: ”These allegations are rubbish and the way I have been sacrificed to the media by the party leaves me most disappointed.”
He said the party’s leadership had ”already tried, judged and sentenced me in the court of public opinion” before he had given his side of the story. ”This has not been the case with the general secretary, whom the party has resolved to protect even without questioning.”
Madisha said he did not know that the money had not reached party coffers until after the case was opened. ”I handed the money to the general secretary. That he had not handed it over to the party purse, I didn’t know.”
Details are subject to police investigation, he said.
Madisha met earlier on Monday with the task team set up by the SACP to investigate the disappearance of the money.
Nzimande had been part of the party’s central committee that had resolved to set up the task team and the terms of reference for the investigations, Madisha said. ”Already he comes out with an advantage — he was there. And that is my problem.”
Madisha has not instituted any charges with police and at no stage accused any person of wrongdoing. ”At the request of the investigating officer I provided a statement setting out the relevant sequence of events and confirming the receipt of the donation and the handing over of same,” he explained.
SACP issue
The matter is an issue within the SACP where it has to be dealt with, and has nothing to do with Cosatu, the African National Congress or succession, he said. Anybody wanting to turn the matter into a political issue is ”out of their minds”.
When asked if Nzimande is lying about the donation, Madisha replied: ”I would not use that word … I haven’t said the general secretary is lying.”
Madisha described himself as ”a taxi” who had collected and delivered the funds and repeated that he was willing to prove this. He called on the SACP to convene a press conference to clarify the position and to clear his name as a ”matter of urgency”.
SACP chairperson Gwede Mantashe was not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month, Madisha had confirmed receiving the funds and was quoted as saying: ”I took it to the person to whom I was supposed to deliver it to.” Two Sunday newspapers reported at the time that Nzimande was being investigated for theft and fraud in connection with the missing funds. — Sapa