/ 7 May 2010

High noon at premier’s homestead

High Noon At Premier's Homestead

Police gathered at the farm of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza in the early hours of Monday this week, according to several eye witnesses, sparking rumours of a police raid.

Motorists who drove past the farm in Barberton phoned journalists in Nelspruit to tell them that a large number of police vehicles had been parked at the entrance to the property for about two hours.

But the ANC in Mpumalanga and the police denied the reports.

Mabuza is the party’s provincial chairperson.

A source close to the investigation of alleged political assassinations in the province, and a self-confessed hit man, known only as Josh, both claimed that SAPS members guarding the premier’s farm initially denied a police search party, from Gauteng, entry for about two hours, but the raid eventually took place.

Paul Mbenyana, the ANC provincial spokesperson, said on Wednesday: “Some faceless individuals have gone to an extent of manufacturing and distributing cellular phone SMSes that even suggest what was allegedly found by the police during the alleged raid at comrade Mabuza’s residence [included] millions of rands, firearms and incriminating documents.

“We do not believe that the provincial chairperson of the ANC is capable of keeping such illegal things at his place, let alone being in ­possession thereof.”

According to an SMS, items confiscated by the police during the raid included R45-million in cash, eight state-issued R5 rifles and ammunition, two AK-47s, four unlicensed pistols and a laptop containing details about all projects in the province, with instructions to heads of departments to whom they must award the projects.

Mabuza was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a mining indaba in Emalahleni on Monday but the conference was cancelled at the 11th hour. Delegates received an email on the day about the cancellation.

He also did not attend an ANC regional executive committee meeting scheduled for Monday and did not show up for a Comair launch at the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport on Tuesday. Those attending the launch were given no reasons for his absence.

On Thursday the provincial treasurer of the South African National Civic Organisation, Raymond Makamo, said the rumours of a raid were “malicious and orchestrated by a journalist who is hell-bound [sic] on destroying the premier”.

“These rumours were orchestrated by the same journalist who has been writing rubbish about a hit list and a hit man in the province. He called some journalists informing them that there was a raid at the premier’s farm in Barberton, but when they went there, they did not find anything.

“We want the police to arrest this guy for crimen injuria, for unlawfully, intentionally and seriously impairing the dignity of the premier,” said Makamo.

He said the police must “urgently” investigate the origins of the rumours and SMSes and arrest the individuals who might be involved in such “mischievous acts”.

Mabuza’s spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, also rubbished the rumours about the raid. “There was no raid at the premier’s house.

“The reason he did not attend the Comair launch and other meetings is because he was booked off by a doctor on April 30 after he caught a flu bug when we launched the HIV/Aids campaign in Standerton,” ­Sithole said.

On Wednesday Captain Leonard Hlathi, the spokesperson for provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thulani Ntobela, also denied reports of the raid.

“There was no raid whatsoever and I refuse to comment further,” he said.

On Thursday he issued a statement on behalf of Ntobela, denouncing the rumours and stating that Mabuza had not been taken in for questioning by Mpumalanga police.

Meanwhile, three sources have claimed that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele, who has been personally involved in the hit-list investigation, had advised Mabuza two weeks ago to resign because of “overwhelming evidence” against him that would be embarrassing to the ANC.

The investigation centres on the murder of Mbombela council speaker Jimmy Mohlala in June last year.

Mohlala was going to testify in a disciplinary hearing of former municipal manager Jacob Dladla about alleged irregularities in the Mbombela stadium contract.

Cele’s spokesperson, Nonkululeko Mbatha, did not answer her phone on Wednesday or Thursday. — African Eye News Service