Holomisa reacts to ANC leadership booklet titled “The rise and fall of Bantu Holomisa”
ANC:”When journalists ask Holomisa whether his “new party” will be to the left or right of the ANC they are met with a blank stare.”
Holomisa: “This is not surprising, if one is engaged in a process of consultation. However, how can one know the left or right of a party with virtually no economic policy, no foreign policy, with a leadership who one day masquerades as hard-line socialists, and tomorrow pronounce capitalism as “a fundamental policy of our organisation”. Even Mr Raymond Mhlaba in his farewell speech in Port Elizabeth on 14 June 1997 had asked, “What is the character of this government”
This exposition is a just response to the booklet entitled “The Rise and Fall of Bantu Holomisa” being distributed nationally and internationally by the ANC’s Department of Publicity and Information in a desperate bid to cast aspersions on my integrity and eventually discredit me in the eyes of the public.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the African National Congress (ANC) met a few months ago and conceded the fact that my expulsion from the ANC has led to sharp divisions within the organisation. They resolved to take measures for averting further schisms. As a result of this resolution an evaluation document was circulated which says, among other things, Winnie Mandela, Toni Yengeni and Peter Mokaba must be used to counteract my initiations of seeking to establish a political party. However, I have noted a statement of denial by the ANC spokesperson purported to be emanating from Mrs Mandela. One is not surprised since it is the culture of the ANC spokesperson to deny everything.
In one of the NWC meetings recently Mrs Winnie Mandela bluntly told the entire NWC leadership that she would not wittingly or unwittingly allow herself to be used against me. She went further and categorically stated that she had forewarned the ANC leadership of problems lying ahead, should they resolve to proceed with their harsh treatment of me. This was at the incipient stages of the Holomisa saga before my final expulsion from the organisation.
I have no doubt in my mind that Mrs Mandela was referring to a letter she addressed to Deputy President Mbeki, just before the ANC expelled me, which reads as follows: “It is critical for this organisation not to handle an issue of this nature in this manner, especially as it involved Sol Kerzner. Ultimately the organisation will not survive further bruising in this matter, and I think some people who took part in this decision will know what I am talking about.”
It is a pity that the rank and file members of the ANC were never told the truth that the officers (the top five officials), NWC and NEC, in line with the ANC Constitution, never took a decision that I should face the disciplinary committee or hearing, but it was the work of an individual who issued instructions to that effect. Be that as it may, I attended their hearings. I still maintain that the issue of my being disciplined was clumsily handled from the very beginning, for I was even informed thereof through the media. My immediate reaction was that I would not attend a “kangaroo court”. However, I later on attended the said hearings after Kader Asmal had informed me in writing.
The NWC in one of their recent meetings took a decision that the issue of my expulsion from the organisation is explained to the public. Instead of heeding the NWC decision, they have produced a booklet assassinating my character. This booklet has been furnished to email internationally, and is being distributed door to door in all languages here at home. This is a clear tactic of cowards who could not face their constituency but resort to pamphleteering.
The public would be well advised to read the booklet between the lines; the ANC leadership has suddenly awakened to the reality of problems they have created for themselves by expelling me. They are really panicking and feel threatened by spectre of an emergent political party with me as one of its founding members.
A party which is reportedly in the red to the tune of R41 million, and which is closing its regional offices because of dwindling membership and empty coffers, could ill-afford to waste its financial resources on printing this glossy booklet. Was it necessary to embark on this huge waste instead of paying salaries to their office staff, which they are retrenching? Is it also not ironical to incur such huge expense on someone whom they despise and refer to as a “construct of the South African Defence Force”?
Could it be possible that the ANC leaders are still in cahoots with their financially resourceful friend, Mr Sol Kerzner, who once donated R2 million to their election, coffers, in printing this booklet?
The ANC leaders’ attempts at demonising me will be counteracted by me in my small way. I have already informed President Mandela in writing that I will respond to my denunciation by the ANC leadership. The difference between us is that the limited funds of the National Consultative Forum (NCF) will not be used for that exercise.
I humbly appeal to all people who are fortunate to lay their hands on this “response” to share it with their neighbours and with as many people as possible. I thank the printers and friends who have volunteered to produce my response in substantial volumes. Attempts will also be made to put this on the email.
The booklet has confirmed my suspicions that the ANC leadership is on the road of establishing a one-party state dictatorship in the country. One of their tactics and strategies is to throw opposition parties into disarray through the employment of smear political campaigns, scurrilous denigration of individual leaders and vituperative propaganda. This booklet is an encapsulation of all these despicable political tactics and strategies. Everyone who disagrees with them is portrayed as a dissident, a populist, a “demagogy”, a villain, a demon, a fiend, a monster, a turncoat, a chameleon, and even treacherous serpent whose head must be smashed. They are the experts in promoting hatred in politics.
The ANC leadership has, of late, rudely awakened to the real possibility of a humiliating electoral defeat at the hands of a strong, combined opposition. They are cognisant of the fact that the pre-election euphoria of a liberation movement ascending to power has virtually subsidised and supplanted by appalling voter apathy and disillusionment.
Voters throughout the country seriously question the integrity of ANC leaders who only yesterday made election promises that reverberated throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. The luxurious trappings and cosy seats of power have diverted the attention of ANC leaders from pre-occupation with apartheid imbalances and backlogs to the amassing of personal power and wealth. They are endowing themselves in every conceivable way with the abundant riches so easily available to themselves to the utter disgust of the weak and poor who have suffered the loss of limb and life for the emancipation of the country. They flaunt their newly acquired power in the form of flashy, elegant and executive cars and mansions in the best leafy suburbs of our First World cities, while millions of our people bathe in seas of poverty and wallow in famine.
Are they better or worse off than homeland leaders and FW de Klerk? Crass incompetence, sleaze and corruption are the order of the day. Crime is rampant and dissuades investors from considering the country as a potential destination for scarce investment funds. Millions are retrenched to swell the ranks of the unemployed. All this, to the arrogant and complacent ANC leadership, is business as usual. They are not perturbed at all by the plight of the indigent masses. This is to be expected of a leadership whose wallets are ever burgeoning because of the constant annual salary rises they grant themselves.
In 1994 alone they granted themselves more than 100% salary increments. Is this done in the name of the liberation struggle and politics for the suffering masses of our people? Certainly not. The question to be asked is what is the effect of these huge salary increases for cabinet ministers on the national fiscus? Our cabinet ministers are among the best paid in the world! Their lifestyle is vastly superior and grand compared to their peers in the industrialised nations of the West.
If the South African electorate is deluded into voting the ANC to power again in 1999, the country would be put firmly and irrecoverably on the path to financial ruin and economic destruction. The warning signals are already there for everybody to see. The aborted voluntary severance package is a glaring example of the ANC leadership’s lack of vision and their wavering commitment to an efficient and effective civil service. The best civil servants have been bribed to quit the government service in a crazy bid to pave the way for the ANC unemployed loyalists and pals of the ministers. This is the trend at provincial and national levels of government.
The consequence of this ill-conceived move is the visible lack of delivery and baffling levels of incompetence. As a result the national and provincial governments spend billions on acquiring the services of consultants to perform duties which are supposed to be the domain of the civil service. This is the most extreme form of corruption – that is, the deliberate appointment of pals to key well-paying jobs in the government without any track record in administration and the necessary skills and experience.
The ANC, in an effort to divert attention from its failures and shortcomings, accuses me and many other former leaders of corruption. I shall deal with these charges when I delve in detail into their misrepresentations of myself in their booklet.
There are many contradictions within the ANC leadership. The vicious power struggles among some individuals seems to negate the much-vaunted unwavering commitment to the total socio-economic emancipation of the broad masses and the concomitant betterment of their living conditions. Personal grandeur and self-aggrandisement are the order of the day. They have been in power only since May 1994, but behold, some of them are already multi-millionaires and have bonds worth millions of Rands. The vexing question to serious observer of the country’s political scene is, where do these leaders derive these vast sources of income. Is it not possible that some of the funds from overseas donors earmarked for anti-apartheid activities and the ANC’s electioneering efforts have been siphoned off for private use by individual leaders of the organisation? Something is rotten in the state of ANC’s affairs. It was for this reason that I alerted Prof Kader Asmal in writing in 1995, as “Mr Clean” of the ANC regarding an allegation of a serious international financial irregularity that was attributed to a prominent ANC member. One wonders what happened to his investigations. Instead ANC’s “Mr Clean” was busy advising their “kangaroo court” to drive me out of their organisation for narrating the historical events of Transkei Bantustan in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last year.
It is an open secret that since the 1994 the ANC Conference until my expulsion from the organisation no financial statement has ever been ready for tabling either at the 1994 Conference or at National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings. The truth of the matter is that millions of Rands could not be accounted for, and books could therefore not be balanced.
My advice to the delegates to the forthcoming ANC Conference in December 1997 is that they should demand fully audited financial statements of the ANC’s London account. If they fail to elicit a proper and satisfactory response in this regard, they should solicit the assistance of the Reserve Bank of South Africa who would be in a position to make informed findings and trace recipients of funds from the London account.
It is no small wonder that we read in daily newspapers and weekly papers of the boundless graft in the provincial- and national governments under ANC leadership. Billions of Rands have gone down the drain and they cannot be accounted for. The good example is the ±R2 billion spent on consultants, yet the administration situation continues to deteriorate every year. The question is, do the ANC leaders in government really engage consultants, or are there some bogus consultants to whom funds are paid and in turn channelled back to the coffers of the organisation or to themselves? Are bodies like Thebe, an ANC investment arm, getting government contracts and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) associated with the ANC also taking part in this looting spree?
The commissions of inquiry, like the Heath Commission, should not only concentrate on the corruption that took place under Matanzima, Holomisa and other leaders, but should immediately attend to the cesspool of corruption that has been taking place under the ANC government since 1994. The massive retrenchment of experienced civil servants has given rise to a fertile ground for the spreading of corrupt practices as MECs and National ministers appoint their Directors General (DGs) and staff, a duty which should be performed by an independent Public Service Commission. Currently Zola Skweyiya’s department does not know whether it moves backwards or forward. At times the apologists of this fiasco and national disgrace euphemistically allude to this as affirmative action when they try to disguise the appointment of their friends and relatives. As far as I know there are no set standards and policies guiding the implementation of the so-called affirmative action. Instead, we notice that the appointments of key personnel in senior positions are not on merit but are along ethnic lines i.e., an Indian minister would fill top posts with Indians and Xhosa or Zulu ministers would recruit Xhosas or Zulus respectively to fill the said posts.
Let me demonstrate how their incompetent appointees have led to the draining of state coffers. According to the audit report of the North West Province released on 29 May 1997 the following emerges:
· Premier Molefe’s office alone was unable to produce backup documentation for R3,5 million which had been spent;
· No indication that tender board approval was obtained for an R18 million RDP project;
· In one department, Transport and Civil Aviation, vouchers could not be produced for expenditure of R135 million, which made up 60% of its total spending;
· Unauthorised spending in the whole administration totalled R367,3 million, which included R11,7 million two-way radio equipment bought by the Department of Public Works and Roads;
· The audit had also shown that Members of the Provincial Legislature were in arrears with their housing rentals;
· At the Department of Health, vouchers for about R19 million could not be submitted for audit purposes;
· Payment of about R14 million had been made on photocopies of invoices. These included individual payments of R4,9 million, R2,9 million and R928 800.
The graft delineated above takes place even in national departments and other provinces, for example, the R14 million Sarafina Scandal. Your attention is also drawn to the Kleuver Auditor-General’s Report, which demonstrated the poor performance of the national departments. In the Eastern Cape, for instance, the tender was corruptly awarded to Balraz-Pensecure whose quotation was R164 million more than that of other tenders. This had to be overturned by a court of law. At what cost? How about the Feeding Scheme Scandal?
In the Mpumalanga Province, which is notorious for unbridled levels of graft, R185 million was awarded to Motheo Construction, an unregistered company headed by a pal of a national housing minister. The Northern Province under Ramatlhodi is not even worth writing about because of the daily exposure of corruption. The above breakdown is just the tip of the iceberg.
In the light of these nauseating exposés and financial scams the ANC leadership should bow their heads in shame and are the last to muster courage and point dirty fingers at others accusing them of corruption. It is high time that the nation becomes more vigilant regarding the role played by the spouses, immediate families and friends of the ANC elite and dubious consultants. One need not to be a genius to realise that the parties referred to above have a propensity of becoming either conduit pipes “economic Trojan Horses” for the benefit of the elite.
If this looting spree cannot be stopped in its incipient stages, I fear that by 1999 more billions or trillions of Rands would have gone down the drain. This is indeed a contradiction of what is contained in the 1994 ANC election manifesto. The question many are asking is: What is the difference between ANC leadership and National Party (NP) and its homeland leaders who were dubbed by the ANC as bunch of corrupt leaders? Remember the old German saying: “the troughs have changed, however the pigs have remained the same”.
Despite the problems of limited capacity of the then Transkei Military Government, and frustrations by the then NP Government that defended the perpetrators of corruption in the territory, we did manage to bring corrupt elements before the courts of law. Court records will confirm this. With the ANC government, reports of corruption only end in newspaper banner lines. Ministers and MECs in whose departments’ corruption has reared its ugly head are neither sacked nor reprimanded. Instead, they are showered with praise for being good.
I would now like to respond to the allegations contained in their booklet point by point.
ANC: Bantu Holomisa was nurtured by old Transkei Defence force, itself a proxy of the apartheid SADF
Holomisa: This is cheap stuff indeed. The question arises: Who is currently nurturing the ANC led government’s SANDF? Who provides round the clock security for the ANC President, even on board the Outeniqua? You are a Department of Information, yet you sadly lack information. In fact, in this area you are miserably bankrupt. A good number of members of the then TDF and myself are capable graduates of SA Army College. In acknowledgement of this fact, your Defence Minister and President Mandela have appointed TDF officers to high positions in the Army. Where are your military graduates of Eastern Europe? Have you forgotten that the Defence Force is still being commanded by the old white SADF Command element, without change to the doctrine?
The ANC leadership is worried about my rapid rise. In the same vein, can they tell the world what criterion did they use to promote people like “Lt. Gen.” Nyanda who in 1994 was unable to salute properly let alone wearing a barrette and uniform properly? Were they promoted or rewarded for failure to implement but to leak operation “Vula” just to earn fame or were they rewarded for claiming “successful” operations like Wimpy Stores and Wits Command bombings which turned out to be South African Defence Force (SADF) operations as reported in the media recently. In the meantime your “generals” have been decorated as “heroes”.
I find it strange that the ANC leadership takes me to task for having been taught counter-insurgency, as this is an international norm in the curriculum of all soldiers. It is the same course that helped the Transkei Military Council and the Transkei Defence Force (TDF) in general to counter Pretoria’s total onslaught on the people of Transkei and, in particular, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) cadres who took refuge in Transkei long before 1990. Indeed, I have never applied the knowledge gained from the said subject against ANC or Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) cadres.
I am equally amazed now by the audacity of the ANC leadership to question the training I received from Pretoria as their own commanders of MK like “Lt. Gen.” Siphiwe Nyanda and others undergo the same training by the same instructors in the same institution following the same syllabus and doctrine as well as adhering to the language policy (Afrikaans) of instruction as determined by General George Meiring and his team. Would I be wrong to call them “construct of the SADF?” If you doubt the ability of the SADF personnel, why your Defence Force is still headed by General Meiring who is not a “construct of MK or ANC?”
This is basically the reason why the integration of the armed forces has turned out to be a fiasco because the revolutionary forces are being trained by their former foes. As you are aware, this aborted exercise of absorption has led to MK soldiers resort to mass action like the recent march to Parliament. One wonders whether the several millions collected abroad for the military training of MK were never used for that purpose or were they simply deposited in individual bank accounts in countries like Switzerland? It was for this reason that I, upon requested by ANC leadership I dispatched fifty Transkei Defence Force (TDF) instructors to train MK cadres in their camps in Uganda a few years ago. If the TDF was a “proxy” of the SADF, why allow it to train your liberation forces? (It was a strategy Bantu).
The TDF was established as a separate entity from the SADF from the very outset. It is mind-boggling to read insinuations by the ANC leaders that I am a “construct of the SADF”. Some TDF members have received their training from many military institutions all over the world. Even the promotions of the TDF members had had nothing to do with the SADF.
It was for these reasons that the ANC tasked me, together with MK commanders, to approach certain countries overseas for extending military training to MK in the early 1990s. It must now be a contradiction of the century that the very ANC leaders who reposed such unshakeable confidence in me find it easy to label me a product of the SADF. The most appropriate thing they could have done was to keep away from anybody with associations with apartheid institutions if they are so proud. However, people know that this sudden loss of confidence in me by ANC leadership is because of politics of greed (Sol Kerzner’s resources refers).
It is a contradiction in terms that they now speak of “my dubious military past” when the ANC leaders approached the TDF to release me for candidature in their nomination list as submitted by their regions. One can deduce the truth that they managed to sway me away from my chosen career of being a soldier to a politician, only to be dumped two years later under suspicious circumstances. One of the leadership’s henchmen said recently “From the start the ANC’s relationship with former Transkei leader Bantu Holomisa had been a tactical one, to use him attain liberation” said Mr Mhlahlo, MEC for Public Works, Eastern Cape Government on 16 May 1997 – the Daily Dispatch of 17 June 1997 refers. Obviously, this is an insult to the then Military Council and the people of Transkei. No wonder the Transkei region is so neglected. At the time of going to the printers to print this booklet, there was not a single house built in Transkei by the ANC government since 1994. Perhaps the voters of the Transkei region were a tactical strategy used to “attain liberation”. Hence in inter-alia roads have been neglected including the N2 route. Instead we hear promises as usual about building of a “corridor” along the coast which in any event will nearly take the entire budget of this country, let alone causing destruction to our environment.
Today, this greedy ANC leadership is celebrating for seeing me out of my job (army). There is no doubt that it is the culture of the ANC leadership to dump people as and when they deem it fit to do so. They have done so to the anti-apartheid activists abroad immediately they started to rub shoulders with the likes of Sol Kerzner. We know how they have used people like Father Trevor Huddleston whom they later dumped. This current leadership does not have time for persons who are not economically resourceful. They have also dumped MK members who put them where they are today. So if they could do so to their own front-line soldiers, who am I to complain? However, what I am challenging is the fact that this ANC leadership has a nerve to lie to the public by saying that I am drawing a monthly salary pension from their government. The fact of the matter is that President Mandela has flatly refused to approve my early retirement pension. On the contrary his government had decreed to give the so-called veterans a pension, people who have never contributed to the pension fund in the first instance. De Klerk, former homeland leaders including Stella Sigcau and old MPs are getting their monthly pensions, but not Holomisa.
I have nothing to say on this item because the ANC leaders themselves do not place any premium on the statement made by Eugene De Kock. I agree with them because the same De Kock alleged that the late Chris Hani and I witnessed the killing of Colonel Craig Duli. It was the same De Kock who cast aspersions on the integrity of “Lt. Gen.” Siphiwe Nyanda, the SANDF Chief of Staff, by insinuating that he was also their man. The only connection that has been proved beyond reasonable doubt is that of Craig Duli and the SADF’s Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) Vlakplaas operatives who supplied him with weapons to overthrow us for giving sanctuary to liberation movements in the Transkei.
The left hand in the ANC apparently does not know what the right hand does if the same organisation can question the origin of files that I have leaked from time to time. On a number of occasions I conferred with members of the ANC leadership, in particular President Mandela, on ways and means of dealing with the information contained in some of those files. These had no doubt assisted the ANC during negotiations with the National Party. President Mandela knows exactly the origin of those secret files and the person who brought them and for what good reason. Joe Ntlanhla was also briefed by the President about the files. That particular person deserves a medal for alerting us to the existence and activities of the Third Force. It was for these reasons that President Mandela asked me to keep the files and leak them periodically with the Editor of the New Nation, an ANC sympathetic newspaper. President Mandela would then use the leaked information in the New Nation to pressurise Mr De Klerk for more concessions and progress in negotiations.
Mr Mac Maharaj laid his hands on NIS’ top secret files on him and published the information contained therein in the New Nation of July 1994. I have not heard that his integrity and connections have been questioned. However, we note the selective treatment of individuals by the ANC leaders. I am however proud that the strategy used by President Mandela, the Editor of the New Nation, the undisclosed individual and myself paid dividends for the nation.
History, not the ANC leadership, will pass a harsh judgement on whether I have ever worked with any apartheid institution in order to derail the freedom of our people. The files were handed to us in 1992 and were selectively used since then. The ANC is out of order to question why the files have not been handed over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) or the new National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Those structures were not in existence in 1992. However, when I handed over these files to the TRC, the ANC leadership instead expelled me. What a contradiction?
Whilst the ANC leaders concede that they have no tangible evidence linking me to apartheid intelligence network, President Mandela when addressing us in the NEC meetings often repeated that “some of you here were agents of the former government. I know this, now that I have access to the security files.”
Some of these ANC leaders may boast of their colourful credentials in exile, but the turmoil and contradictions within the leadership suggest that the ANC programme has been hijacked by forces within who have always been inimical to the objectives and goals of the movement. Was President Mandela perhaps correct in his assertion? The ANC leaders must come clean! This scenario is compounded by reports of the TRC, media and the likes of Joe Mamasela who adamantly claim that some NEC members and ANC cabinet ministers were spies for the former government.
No wonder that we read in the newspapers that Zuma and his ilk had been allocated intelligence source numbers by the PW Botha intelligence agents. I challenge the ANC leadership to appoint an independent auditor for evaluating how much was spent on these source numbers allocated to Zuma and others. Zuma’s feeble excuse that he was involved with PW Botha’s intelligence agents to negotiate on behalf of the ANC is somewhat puzzling. The question many are asking is: What precautionary measures did Zuma put in place during the so-called negotiations to make sure that exiles and many in this country would not be victimised as it happened in July 1990?
You will agree with me that many people were killed/massacred by FW de Klerk’s forces between 1990 and 1993, as compared to the entire period of the struggle. It should be noted that these are the same forces that Zuma is boastfully telling us that he was negotiating with. One becomes suspicious whether Zuma’s recommendations to his leadership after he had met the apartheid regime were not leading South Africans into a Trojan Horse or a Dingaan’s Kraal style. Obviously TRC would have failed in their mandate if they do not investigate the circumstances which led to ANC’s leadership putting too much trust in FW de Klerk’s war machinery to guarantee our safety in the period referred to above. Surely people like Zuma who have been given source numbers by PW Botha’s government owes people of this country an explanation.
Joe Mamasela’s evidence has been accepted in the highest courts of this country and has helped the TRC in unravelling the past. Many would like to know the present ANC cabinet ministers and NEC members who used to be flown by South African government helicopters from Lusaka to be briefed and to fetch money from Vlakplaas as alleged by Mamasela.
It is worth noting that De Klerk’s government tried in vain to break our backs, that is, Winnie Mandela, Holomisa, Harry Gwala and others, but the process even after our freedom seems to be gathering momentum under the Mandela leadership. What is going on?
I have noted the instruction purportedly given by the ANC echelon in government to South African Police Services to try and gather evidence incriminating me in the death of Craig Duli. What a waste of time! It would be appreciated if the same instruction were to be given for the prosecution of the ANC’s exile leadership for their brutal murder of ±100 ANC cadres who rose in rebellion against the organisation as claimed by Thabo Mbeki in the submission to the TRC. Today, the ANC government is sending the same policemen who ferried Duli and his team to Transkei, while they were still placed in the custody of the same policemen, to investigate us. It is like sending a jackal to a conference of jackals to represent sheep while the subject matter is the slaughtering of sheep! Whose interest are those policemen going to represent? It was for this reason that I told the newly “trusted” policeman who helped Duli and others, to go and jump in the lake, when he wanted a statement from me. However, I have offered myself to be the defence witness.
I have been calling for the TRC to investigate this matter but seemingly they are not interested. The public is also watching the discrimination which is being practiced by the present government against the black soldiers of the TDF as compared to General Malan and others as well as Colonel De Kock. In the latter case the state paid for their legal costs including the use of luxury jets and hotels, while TDF members who have been arrested for the so-called murder of Colonel Duli are not supported by the State. What a fuss and double standards!
The public will recall that the former President De Klerk’s forces raided and killed five innocent school-going children in Umtata in 1993. Instead of being charged for murder, as it is the case with the TDF members, President Mandela apologised on his behalf. Can the same apology be extended on behalf of the then Transkei Government forces who were on the defensive against the South African Government backed abortive coup of 1990 which claimed the lives of nine TDF soldiers? Is this “gesture” a classical example of reconciliation? What must we read from here?
I have noted the ANC leaders’ zeal to poke their noses in the affairs of Transkei in particular the failed coup by Duli and the coup against Miss Sigcau in an attempt to incriminate me and masquerade as champions of human rights, although they had executed hundreds in exile.
However, the ANC leadership must have felt bad when their trusted policemen, Capt. Neethling, told the media on 14 June 1997 that, “Holomisa is not a suspect. We can prove nothing against him. But the marathon investigation into the Duli murders suggested that Mr Holomisa did not order the shootings, nor did he have knowledge of the order prior to being told that Col. Duli was dead”. Capt. Neethling continues, “Despite their animosity, we have evidence that Holomisa sent his bodyguards to East London (where Duli was in self-imposed exile) to try to broker a reconciliation. And when he was told that Duli was dead, Holomisa was seen to shed tears”. This would contradict a report received by Military Intelligence operatives, as revealed by Vlakplaas Commander, Eugene de Kock, that Duli was shot dead by my bodyguards in the presence of Chris Hani and myself.
The public should also know that although the abortive coup took place in Transkei, Eastern Cape, the case is being handled by Gauteng Attorney General and that the case will be heard in Bloemfontein. However, the Duli family had never laid charges against the TDF members. So where are their instructions coming from? Is this perhaps another palace exercise? Is the justice system of this country vulnerable to political manipulation?
Now that the ANC leadership realises that they have failed to break my back, they are resorting to dirty trick campaigns costing them millions of Rands, money that could have been better used to pay their officers who are being retrenched in their regional offices.
ANC: You mention files on “Operation Katzen”, DMI operations, etc. and you suggest that I revealed these with opportunistic intentions.
Holomisa: While your leaders were fumbling in CODESA, your MK unable to put up a fight against untrained Inkatha hostel dwellers, I on the instructions of your President, gave you a weapon through those files to enjoy high moral ground in negotiations.
I have never complained against my being appointed deputy-minister. I therefore challenge any ANC leader with such information to come forward and proclaim it publicly. I however sense that my topping of the ANC NEC elections in the 1994 December ANC Conference rendered me a target of a leadership clique within the movement. They became jealous as well as feel threatened by my popularity although I have never evinced any ambitions for the future leadership of the organisation. I was, of course, once, a de facto head of government. The ANC leaders are the last to talk of this position in disparaging terms as they fully exploited it for their political convenience.
On 16 March 1996 I addressed a letter to the Secretary of the TRC in which I stated that “As a former Head of Government of Transkei I wish to bring to your attention that the knowledge and information I have on how the Apartheid Government was operating in our region might help your Commission in arriving at sound conclusions”.
The TRC itself published the contents of the letter in the media, it also published its intention to call upon me to testify before the Commission. There was much publicity in the media associated with my impending appearance before the TRC. The leadership of the ANC was fully aware of my pending appearance. Indeed, I handed a thirty-page copy of my written submission to President Mandela who gave me the go-ahead. I approached President Mandela, in particular, because part of the evidence I was to present included the secret files, which detailed Third Force activities which he said I should keep. Both of us agreed that the handing over of the files to the TRC would help Bishop Tutu and his team. Indeed, those files have helped the TRC in their work when one judges by the disclosures.
On 22 May 1996, and with the concurrence of the ANC’s leadership, I appeared before the TRC where I made written and oral submissions and handed over all the files, which were in my possession. At no stage prior to my giving evidence on the 22 May 1996 did the President or any member of the NEC contact me to suggest any alteration in the text.
I dealt with, amongst other things, the reasons for the overthrow of the governments of Chief Matanzima and Stella Sigcau by the TDF, who appealed to Pretoria for military assistance in order to ensure a speedy and forceful removal of the military government from power. Following on there the attempted coup instigated by the NP Government was aimed at replacing the Transkei Military Council with a government which was politically more closely aligned with NP policy. There is no doubt that the Transkei Security Forces, would have been used once more, against the ANC and others since the corrupt leadership of the TNIP would have been returned to power by Pretoria.
What triggered off the hot debate about my submission to the TRC was the following paragraph:
“When Chief George Matanzima, then Prime Minister of Transkei, refused to step down as a result of his implication in financial scandals, the Transkei Defence Force intervened and forced him out of politics. A new Prime Minister, Miss Stella Sigcau, was elected. We discovered that Chief Matanzima was paid R2 million as a bribe for exclusive gambling rights. Bank statements were obtained from the Bank of Transkei which showed that some of the senior ministers and Paramount Chief KD Matanzima had each received a sum of R50 000-00. This created curiosity among the TDF ranks, that is, lower ranks, including troops, up to Senior Officers as to why the amount was divided among politicians if it was destined for Chief George Matanzima only. On the morning of 31 December 1987, all ranks of the TDF took a decision to remove the government of Miss Stella Sigcau since she was a recipient of R50 000.”
Thabo Mbeki and his cohorts, however, seized on this reference to Sigcau and exaggerated and distorted the entire issue of the bribe and her benefiting there under out of all proportion to the context in which the remarks were made. Indeed, all those who were in South Africa in 1987 were surprised and baffled by the behaviour of Thabo Mbeki and Steve Tshwete who pretended that this was a revelation. Mr Mbeki had never censured me nor did he call Sigcau and myself as he promised instead he went to parliament and attacked me.
The statement referring to Miss Sigcau unruffled many feathers in the ANC leadership, causing some of them to panic beyond comprehension. This came as no surprise to me for Mr Kerzner has been rubbing shoulders with all sorts of government figures in the country. Everybody knows now that he had bribed Chief George Matanzima, the NP and even the ANC. No wonder the ANC government has dropped charges against Kerzner. I cited the conflict of interest between me and the ANC when the issue of Stella Sigcau was raised as both she and the ANC were recipients of Kerzner’s favours. It is for this reason that I kept on agitating for an independent Tribunal to try my case. The rules of natural justice should have prevailed in this case. Unfortunately the Kerzner boys in the ANC leadership would not be swayed by any substantive argument. They clutched at my statement against Miss Sigcau and used it to expel me from the ANC. Even before I faced the Disciplinary Committee (DC), the people like Tshwete, Gigaba, Matshatile and Mbeki had already called for my expulsion. For example, Thabo Mbeki told a Sowetan reporter on 12 August 1996 that, “It has emerged that even a public apology from Holomisa will not appease the ANC’s NEC and DC. The message is clear: Holomisa must go”. It is in this regard that I made this submission to the DC: “So you can see that a decision has been taken already to expel me from the organisation. I have a feeling that my appearance here today is just a formality”.
In these circumstances I became anxious that members of the DC would also feel the antagonism in leadership circles and thus undermine my chances of obtaining a fair hearing in the DC and the NEC. It was in these circumstances that I felt it necessary, in order to protect myself and secure an objective unbiased hearing to raise the issue of recusal arising out of the ANC’s contemporary involvement with Kerzner. Be informed that sometime in 1992 I was approached by Thabo Mbeki and told me that he had been approached by Kerzner who wanted to know whether the ANC could do anything about charges pending against him in the Transkei. This enquiry took place on or about the same time as Mbeki’s 50th birthday party, which was graced by the likes of Sol Kerzner.
In motivating for the recusal of the ANC not to preside over my case I drew the attention of Zola Skweyiya’s DC to the NWC meeting which was attended by both President Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, ” The NWC issued a statement describing Holomisa’s allegations a “scurrilous”, “repugnant” and “blatant lies”. The organisation said it had not received any money from Kerzner and Kerzner had not funded the Deputy-President Mbeki’s birthday party. It further said that Tshwete’ s accommodation at Eubank fight in the Sun City had been paid by boxing promoter Rodney Berman, a claim Berman denied within an hour of the statement being released. The effect of NWC’s statement was that my statements were false, malicious and defamatory – by implication that the taking of money from Kerzner whether for funding a birthday party, Tshwete’ s accommodation or an election campaign would be an iniquitous act to which the ANC would not be a party.
I clearly expressed my fear those members of the DC and the NEC, because of their appreciation of, if not dependence, on Kerzner’s generosity might not exercise an unbiased judgement in the disciplinary proceedings against me. It was, however, also my desire as a loyal member of the ANC that the organisation should distance itself from that constellation of circumstances which could give rise to the suspicion of a desire to protect Kerzner as a quid pro quo for his generosity.
Insofar as the offer of complimentary accommodation was concerned I submitted a letter addressed to the SABC by the Marketing Director of Sun International from which it is confirmed in black and white that the Company invites relevant dignitaries including senior ministers for major international events providing them with complimentary accommodation and hospitality. It was, therefore, my suggestion that the DC should in collaboration with the leadership consider the formation of an independent investigative body composed of a person or persons acceptable to myself and the ANC who could investigate the question whether members of the DC who were ministers received complimentary treatment from Kerzner’s company. However, this request was rejected by the DC instead, Minister Alec Erwin, who once recommended that late Comrade Gwala be expelled from the South African Communist Party (SACP), again recommended to Zola Skweyiya’s DC without reasons as follows: –
“It is my contention that Comrade Holomisa if he were to continue to enjoy membership, would remain a member of the legislature and would be entitled in that capacity to possibly continues his conduct. It is for that reason, I believe, the more severe discipline that you are entitled to take is expulsion of membership.” So says the Baas!
In conformity with the reasoning of Alec Erwin who wanted to be in good books of his masters who put him in the gravy train, the DC resolved to expel me in order to deprive me of membership, the purpose being to halt my parliamentary activities. Imagine, my fate being decided by a person like Alec Erwin, whose supporters can hardly fill the passenger seats of his car. It is clear that the DC acted improperly and with ulterior motive. Zola Skweyiya, who is alleged to be having a doctorate in law, ran like a spoilt child to the Office of President Mandela, to seek an advice as to whether he conducted the case properly. A civil servant, Mr Fink Haysom in the Office of the President was apparently assigned to handle him. On the advice of this civil servant a second judgement was issued outside the “court”. A memorandum addressed to Skweyiya and his DC from President Mandrel’s office on 9th September 1996, after my expulsion, contained the following among other issues: –
It suggested that “a judgement should be provided with reasons in respect of the conviction in respect of each charge and the sentence in respect of all the charges. It further suggested that a fuller judgement should be drafted by the DC, which addresses the charges and indicates which aspect of the Code of Conduct has been breached. This is not clear from Comrade Zola’s judgement.” From the above you can see that the DC’s conduct is under question and, their formulation of the second judgement, took place after they received the letter which contained advice from the Office of the President. A classical example of a “kangaroo court” presided by Eastern Europe graduates. Is it conceded that this was one of the celebrated palace exercises? You be the judge!
You will recall that when I justified the reasons for objecting to be tried by ANC Disciplinary Committee, I referred to Sol Kerzner’s generosity to ANC coffers. As usual the ANC leadership dubbed me a liar and denied that they ever received monies from Sol Kerzner. However, President Mandela later admitted that Kerzner had indeed given money to the ANC, but “Nobody will apologise to Holomisa. Even if anybody wanted to apologise I would overrule them.” The original sin in this sorry affair is not so much the acceptance of the donation but the subsequent cover-up. It is difficult to give it another name. When the ANC NWC meeting attended by both President Mandela and Thabo Mbeki issued a statement that publicly denied my claim and later confirmed by President Mandela proves that there was a big cover-up.
It is not true that I walked out of the NEC meeting during my appeal. We are still confounded by the ANC leaders’ approach to Kerzner for a R2 million donation when they were aware that he was still facing charges of bribery in the Transkei. Their attempts to have Kerzner’s case set aside after receiving the R2 million donation before they even came to power was tantamount to defeating the ends of justice. Through hindsight wisdom they showed us what type of leaders they would be. One is not surprised by the looting spree taking place in their government.
As far as I am concerned, everything I said in the TRC was raised in evidence. However, the ANC leadership disregarded the latter. The response and passive reaction by the TRC leadership raises curiosity in the eyes of the public. The question arises as to why it never protected a person who facilitated the realisation of TRC’s objectives. Is it conceded by the TRC leadership that I erred in raising issues contained in my testimony? Is it further conceded by the TRC leadership that they did not protect me, as their witness, from the ANC leadership’s political machinations? (No, Mr Holomisa, it was a celebrated palace exercise!)
I have already alluded to corruption in the Transkei in the preceding pages. The ANC leaders have a propensity of regarding every decision taken by homeland governments for the benefit of their people as corruption while they shy away from decisions taken by the National Party Government. This attitude is a classical example of a deep-seated slave mentality among ANC leaders. They so readily embrace the decisions of the people they allude to as the trainers of the likes of Holomisa. It was for this reason that they targeted workers from the former homelands, in their obsession with right-sizing and downsizing of the civil service which led to the suffering of those workers and their extended families. The promotions which took place in the then central government against TEC ruling are not questioned because they were sanctioned by De Klerk (makhulubaas). In 1995 I submitted an open memorandum to the Cabinet expressing my displeasure in the manner of handling black civil servants in the country.
ANC: Holomisa’s Military Council did not reverse the trend of corruption inherited from the Matanzima era
Holomisa: At least you acknowledge that this trend was inherited. The hard reality is that neither has President Mandela reversed the trend in South Africa. In fact, the symptoms are worse than during the Matanzima, Sigcau, Holomisa to De Klerk’s eras put together. All this in three years! The prognosis is very bad indeed.
The intentional spreading of blatant lies by the ANC leaders seems to be in their blood veins. They allege, for instance, that “just one day before the April 1994 elections, Holomisa and his entire Military Council illegally promoted themselves to qualify for better pensions”. All the years I was Chairman of the Military Council, I retained the basic salary of an administrative head of a government department, that is the Director-General. From the above, it can be detected that I have never enjoyed the lucrative basic salary scale of a Prime Minister. Records in possession of the ANC government in the expenditure department can reveal that I have been paid the DG’s salary scale plus taxable non-pensionable allowances for serving in the then Military Council. As a Commander of the then TDF, my basic salary was equal to other Directors-General of both Transkei and RSA. Whenever the RSA Commission for Administration adjusted salaries for RSA civil servants, Transkei would be advised accordingly and in terms of the existing agreements then RSA would transfer money to Transkei to effect such adjustments. For example, the last increase of both Transkei and RSA management echelon salaries was in December 1993. Transkei Government, in line with the RSA Commission for Administration circular, increased the salaries of its management echelon and executive with effect from 1 December 1993, in terms of PSC Circular No. 1 of 1994 as follows:
| TDF Commander (myself) | DG Transkei/RSA |
| From R221 802 per annum to R266 784 per annum plus R37005 per annum Military Council non-pensionable allowance | From R221 802 per annum to R266 784 per annum |
My last promotion according to my personal files in your government’s possession was in 1987 by Chief George Matanzima, from a rank of a Brigadier to Major General. At the time of leaving the Transkei government in April 1994 there was no change in my basic salary, it was fixed at R266 784 per annum plus R37 005 per annum Military Council taxable non-pensionable allowance. That is Holomisa’s version. I doubt very much if there would have been any minister or a head of government/province in today’s government who would have accepted the same basic salary as that of a director general. The ANC leadership claims that I promoted myself “a day before the 1994 elections”. I am therefore looking forward to receiving from you documented evidence that substantiates the malicious allegations levelled against me. In the meantime, my legal team will approach your good offices with the intention to sue your organisation for the defamation of character.
You will agree with me that I fared better than the ANC leadership who, on assuming power, doubled the salaries of their predecessors. My witness that I receive no monthly pension is none other than your President himself. I wonder where the figure of R342 000 per month on pensions originates from, because the civilian members of the then Military Council never qualified for and received any pension. The four soldiers who served in the Military Council then returned to the military barracks without getting any golden handshakes. If some of them have retired they did so as members of the new SANDF. They, like me, retained their basic salaries plus taxable non-pensionable allowance when they were members of the Military Council.
ANC:
“Holomisa robbed the public fiscus, to feed not the poor, but a relatively marginal third world professional stratum of fellow junior officers and bureaucrats.”
Holomisa:
“Here you write like a typical absentee and one of the cowards who were incensed in the safe havens of Europe and elsewhere. The opposite of what you say is true. Holomisa fed the poorest of the poor in Transkei. Go and ask the people of that unfortunate part of South Africa.”
ANC:
“Such wild spending sprees (as done by Holomisa’s Military Council, result in crisis conditions, that open the doors wide for IMF – imposed structural adjustment programmes.”
Holomisa:
“It is very sad if you are aware of this reality, and yet you allow these tendencies to become a major characteristic of your ruling party. Your much-touted programmes, macro economic policy, wholesale privatisation, GEAR, outcome-based education, national qualifications framework and a whole host of such concepts works towards the structural adjustment programme. Ask President Chiluba of Zambia. Your party not Holomisa is preparing South Africa for this calamity.”
It is disconcerting to note that while the ANC led government, on one hand, professes to prioritise job creation, on the other hand, some ministries rather than creatively and innovatively seek mechanisms of lowering prices they choose to import the required commodities. Invariably the social cost to South Africa of “exporting” jobs outweighs the benefit of purportedly cheaper imported commodities would create jobs for the foreign countries. In a nutshell this practice decreases job opportunities in South Africa and increases job opportunities for the exporting countries.
Who are the economic advisors of the present government? Are they loyal to this country? 60% to 70% of the population of this country have no access to banking facilities. How do we then talk about wholesale privatisation? Who is going to benefit? Foreigners who “rent” few prominent blacks as fronts will no doubt benefit. The countries who are pumping millions of Rands to the ANC coffers and their youth league are given tenders and the land is sold to them for peanuts, even before the question of land dispute has been resolved. If we continue in this manner, I am sure that by 1999 we will be renting this country from foreigners.
ANC:
“If Holomisa is Mr Clean, why is he speaking to Lucas Mangope?”
Holomisa:
Your amnesia is mindboggling. Why did the ANC or rather President Mandela speak to PW. Botha in 1984? Why did he speak to De Klerk? Why is your organisation talking to Inkatha? You have prepared a package of concessions, literally begging, with cap in hand, for a merger with IFP. All this is a shameful about – turn made in the name of peace in KwaZulu-Natal. Is this again a strategy? If that is the case, I am justified.
In the light of all your insinuations and allegations, you promise your members you are going to revive your structures, and to engage in a programme of cadre development, all this to guard against demagogy and opportunism. This is a noble and necessary venture. I suggest you start by reviving the Department of Information and Publicity.
You even suggested “Holomisa’s ineptitude is due to the fact that he has never become a member of a street committee”. I do not have any regrets about this. Street committee leadership background is the cause of all the mess South Africa finds herself in today; rampant crime; uncontrolled spending sprees; unprecedented corruption; stinking town and city centres; uncontrolled immigration; taxi violence; car hijackings; etc., the list is endless.
Against this background, your booklet was a futile exercise. This is a feeble and failed attempt to detract people’s focus on the glaring failures of your party, and a despicable act of panic and cowardice.
So to the ANC rank and file and the public in general, I say, you be the judge.
I learn from the booklet that commissions have been appointed to probe corruption during my reign in the Transkei. What puzzles many people and me is that not a single member of the Military Council nor directors general were ever summoned to testify before the Commissions. To make things worse Directors, Chief Directors, Deputy DGs and DGs have been expelled in favour of pals. The findings thereof would always remain questionable in my eyes and to many others who know administration. However, the last word on issues like these should be said in a court of law. Making noises about corruption without charging the wrongdoers will not help, take a leaf from the then Military Council of Transkei.
ANC:
“When journalists ask Holomisa whether his “new party” will be to the left or right of the ANC they are met with a blank stare.”
Holomisa:
“This is not surprising, if one is engaged in a process of consultation. However, how can one know the left or right of a party with virtually no economic policy, no foreign policy, with a leadership who one day masquerades as hard-line socialists, and tomorrow pronounce capitalism as “a fundamental policy of our organisation”. Even Mr Raymond Mhlaba in his farewell speech in Port Elizabeth, on 14 June 1997 asked, “What is the character of this government?”
The President of Cosatu has even confirmed the above confusion, your big ally when he referred to the failure of Gear “After a year of Gear – the reverse gear for our society – the promised jobs have not materialised. There is a vast difference between programming a computer to project on jobs and the real thing. Gear is a business strategy dressed up in struggle language.”
The miraculously bloodless 1994 democratic elections unfolded a vast new dispensation that dictated some new demands and re-definition of political roles on some major political parties. Undoubtedly there has been tremendous pressure of late, on most role players to undergo some introspection and re-appraisal in respect of the birth of fresh thought and new dimensions pertaining to common goals and common destiny which the entire South African society will surely have to grapple with – beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission era.
Perhaps we could begin by seeking a more stable and permanent identity than the “rainbow” one, precisely because the rainbow is ever a fleeting phase whose attributes are dubious indeed and above all it contains some colour connotations – the very scourge of our evil past.
Let it be recalled that what brought about the establishment of the TRC is none other than the racial inhuman past regime which has left a trail of brutal scars which constitutes an unfortunate traffic heritage for future generations. There can be no gainsaying, the fact is that the majority citizens of this country have been terribly traumatised beyond anybody’s imagination, as a result of which all norms and value standards have been rendered meaningless. This is evidenced by the high rate of sordid crimes like child abuse, serial killings, violent rapes on elderly women, wanton taxi violence, mutilation of innocent tourists and holiday-makers, to name but a few. Ours is a sick and abnormal society, the sooner we admit that the better the start to a healing process.
The South African society needs to rid itself of the baggage of the past, possibly by delving far deeper than the TRC into the indoctrinations headed by DRC on youth and through other related institutions. The Army as well as clandestine operations, in order to fathom what it would cost this country in terms of effort and dedication, to effect any meaningful change of mindsets before a true South African society can emerge. The same should go for the anti-apartheid liberation movements who advocated that the country is made ungovernable through rent-boycotts, “repossessions” and the survival tactics one could imagine. A concerted drive or campaign must be embarked upon with an emphasis on re-direction of the mindsets and values. But one shudders to think, how feasible it is to achieve these noble goals in a society obsessed with political and even religious norms and values still founded on old isms that have not only dominated but divided our communities along ethnic as well as racial lines.
South Africa needs to seriously take stock of itself, re-discover its priorities and value systems free from all the ills and isms of the past-imbued with new ideals such as a spirit of togetherness. National pride and a common ground for the future of all of us as South Africans. South Africanism as an ideology and vision for future ought to supersede anything we espouse dearly; barring our new internationally acclaimed democratic constitution and national flag – a true embodiment of our common identity.
South African citizens deserve a better deal from De Klerk and his lonely die-hards, still clinging to camouflaged white supremacy. The final burial of the National Party should be treated as a national verdict, because it is outmoded and out of touch and incompatible with the new South Africa, especially the youth of tomorrow.
In view of the stupendous task and mammoth drive required to set this Country on a course to rise up to new horizons it becomes only too expedient to summon the services of our highly esteemed leaders like Bishops P Storey, M Dandala, N. Ndungane, Lekganyane and also Dr Boraine, Dr B Pityana. Together with Muslim and Jewish leadership right across the social and religious spectrum and ask them to combine all their resources and concentration towards championing the cause for national reconstruction; transformation culminating in the involvement of a new South African society fired with a new zest for new patriotism, direction and hope for a new beginning. We need a second miracle, a renaissance before the imminent disappearance from public life of our one and only world-renowned tireless President Mandela to succeed in this venture. Leaders from all walks of life should get on board e.g. cultural, sport, traditional, political, educational etc., in support of this worthy national call. I fervently believe that this could be our last chance to salvage this country from the perils of a looming anarchy, once more being carefully institutionalised and orchestrated so subtly by the leadership in waiting. One does not have to be an astute political fundi to unravel the manoeuvres bedevilling our so-called newly gained freedoms of speech and organs of propagation. The dark and ominous clouds are lurking on the horizon signifying the worst intolerance this country has ever experienced. All who are still basking in the glory of uhuru celebrations when, in actual fact our young democracy is fast receding into doldrums, death and destruction where criminals, drug dealers and car hijackers are holding the population to ransom, collapse of the justice system, SAPS low morale aggravated by police killings on duty and gross mismanagement and cover-ups. South Africans must take their future into their own hands and rally behind Holomisa-Meyer for the establishment of a new alternative political home, which cherishes a new dynamic, fresh impetus that promotes the emergence of a South African vibrant, well-focused society divorced from the past. All citizens of this country are afforded a golden opportunity to spell-out what future they desire for their families.
The ANC leaders seem to be forgetful of their own deeds. Only yesterday were they decorating Roelf Meyer for his sterling contribution to the constitutional development of the country. He was lionised and laden with honour by them! Because they have failed to entice Roelf to join hands with them, they now launch scathing attacks on me for co-operating with him for launching a truly non-racial movement. What hypocrites and vitriolic impostors they are?
I would further remind the ANC leadership that in our ANC NEC meeting held in Bellville, Cape Town, last year when Mr De Klerk pulled out of the Government of National Unity we resolved to recruit Messrs Roelf Meyer, Pik Botha, Dawie de Villers, Chris Fismer, etc. to swell the ANC ranks, but seemingly the leadership failed. When Roelf and I work together to realise what the ANC failed to achieve we are dubbed pole-cats.
The National Consultative Forum is busy engaging all interested citizens about the formation of a new political party. This shall take off the ground whether the ANC leadership approves or not. The ANC leadership has never faced a determined and vigorous opposition – that is why they go to great lengths at such a staggering cost to denigrate me. They shall no more ride roughshod over the backs of the masses of the people who have become so tired of and fed up with the shallow promises of the unreliable and fickle ANC leadership. People already see through their thinly-veiled smokescreen of seeking to distort the history of Transkei and that of mine.
If the ANC leaders do not desist from ferreting out the so-called undesirable elements from the organisation, they shall sooner find themselves with only leaders and immense resources at their disposal but with no followers. The decision of the ANC NWC was to produce a pamphlet explaining their reasons for expelling me. I do not think they have succeeded in explaining that.
I wish to encourage the rank and file members of the ANC to elect leaders in this forthcoming conference who will lead the transformation process, and ensure that transparency and accountability are observed. My special words of thanks go to the vast numbers of ANC grassroots who have worked with me since 1988. Those who have been witnessing my leadership role from the days of the corrupt regimes of Matanzimas in the Transkei up to the dawn of the new era in 1994, and who are disillusioned with the ANC leaders’ dictatorial style are welcome to swell the ranks of the National Consultative Forum. However, those who wish to be led by Sol Kerzner’s boys are free to remain in the ANC fold. They should rather garner support for persons like Winnie Mandela to rise to the positions of Deputy President and President because she is the only hope for the downtrodden masses in this country after the departure of President Mandela.
Finally, the precedent created by a confused, frustrated, intolerable, contradictory and insensitive ANC leadership which is caught up in a culture of greed and compensation period might lead one to compile his or her own booklet on the ANC leadership, as the author of ANC’s document “Rise and Fall of Bantu Holomisa”, Mr Jeremy Cronin had done so about me. What you have just read above was my response to the ANC leadership’s so-called “Rise and Fall of Bantu Holomisa” researched and compiled by Jeremy Cronin of the SACP. Once more it shows how powerful these minorities are, whose constituency is not known. In the meantime I hope you have enjoyed reading the “ANC Comrades in Corruption” booklet.
