Congress of the People (Cope) Western Cape premier candidate Allan Boesak said on Friday he has named ANC members who received the money for which he went to jail in an upcoming book.
He has, however, withheld publication until after the April 22 elections.
”It was never my idea to name them. It was up to them to have the courage and the integrity to come forward. I had always thought that it should not be that hard, that it would not take that much courage,” the cleric told Sapa.
”In my book, I name a few names, but we have now withheld publication until after the elections because I did not want it to look like political score-settling.”
Boesak served a brief jail sentence in 2000 after being convicted of fraud and theft of more than R1,5-million of foreign donor funds in the apartheid era. He later received a presidential pardon and has always maintained that he was innocent.
On the campaign trail, he has said the money was used to help activists in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on Friday, Boesak insisted that he went to jail for ”struggle bookkeeping” and that the judge who convicted him never found that he had used the money for his personal needs.
”People who lived under PW Botha’s apartheid regime will know that you do not put names and numbers on paper for the security police to use.”
Cope’s national treasurer Hilda Ndude last month told supporters in Langa township that African National Congress (ANC) members were living in houses paid off with money from Boesak’s now defunct Foundation for Peace and Justice.
The party has resisted any comparison between Boesak’s past and the legal woes of ANC president Jacob Zuma, who faces corruption charges stemming from the arms deal.
On Friday Boesak accused Zuma of blackmailing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to have his corruption charges dropped and said the ANC was wrong if it thought the public did not care about its handling of the case.
”If I feel powerful enough to blackmail the NPA and say if you take me to court I shall show who else is involved … [people say] it is not just between the ANC and the NPA, it has to do with the very soul of who we are.”
Boesak said his book would be titled Running with Horses.
Explaining the sub-title Confessions of an Accidental Politician, he referred to his doubts on running for premier on the Cope ticket.
”You know how long it took me to decide on this job.”
Boesak firmly denied rumours that his wife Elna was putting pressure on him to stand down since forecasts have shown that the job of premier is likely to go to Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.
Asked whether he would be prepared to work with Zille in the provincial government, he said it would depend on their personal understanding.
”We will consider all options except working with the ANC,” he said.
”But whether myself and Zille can work together will very much depend on the personal relationship we can have with each other.
”Personal relations can sink a coalition.” — Sapa