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Mabuza vs Phosa: ‘One of the ANC top six leaked the spy report’

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Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza.
Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza.
Leon Sadiki

Anyone among the ANC’s top six officials could have leaked a report that accused Mpumalanga premier, David Mabuza, of being an apartheid spy. 

Former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, who is being sued by Mabuza for R10 million in the Northern Gauteng High Court, said the leak made him feel “betrayed”. 

Phosa claimed that the report was delivered at his White River house by an unknown person. He then passed it on to the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, after she had asked for information about Mabuza after a meeting in one of his business on September 2 2014. 

Phosa said he expected that the ANC would investigate all allegations contained in the report, but instead, it found its way to journalists. 

“Duarte said she made copies to the top six officials [President Jacob Zuma, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, chairperson Baleka Mbete, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize and herself],” Phosa said. 

He said that when he asked Duarte about the leak after the media started asking questions, she allegedly said she did not know who among the top six leaked it. 
“If you’ve trusted people and this happens [the leak] you feel betrayed,” Phosa said. 

In short, the report alleged that Mabuza was an apartheid spy code-named PN485 who spied on senior ANC leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and the late Albertina Sisulu, between 1985 and 1993. 

It also alleged that Mabuza worked with notorious apartheid killers – former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock and security police officer Butana Nofomela. 

When Mabuza’s senior counsel, Ettiene Labuschagne, asked Phosa why he did not give the report to the premier, he said: “The document speaks about him [Mabuza] and it would be unfair to ask him to investigate himself.” 

“I put it to you that you did give Mabuza the document and did not acknowledge him by greeting this week because you have an axe to grind,” Labuschagne said. 

Phosa denied this and said there was nothing to contest between Mabuza and himself. He said he submitted the document to the ANC officials because Mabuza was a national executive committee member and as such complaints about him had to be handled at that level. 

Phosa has dismissed his house manager Jan Venter’s evidence as a fabrication and has labelled him a “pincher” of money. 

Venter, who is Mabuza’s key witness in the defamation lawsuit, finished giving evidence against Phosa on Wednesday afternoon. 

Venter claimed that he saw Phosa and his business associate, Nick Elliot, drafting the spy report before it was sent to Duarte.

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