By BONGANI FUZILE and MALIBONGWE DAYIMANI
The Saturday Dispatch can today reveal that ANC politicians from the Eastern Cape flew to Pretoria last year to discuss with the acting Hawks head, Lieutenant-General Yolisa Matakata, investigations the unit was handling.
The meeting is said to have discussed, among other things, the growing number of arrests of ANC members in the province. Between 2014 and 2016, more than 10 senior ANC leaders have been arrested by the Hawks in the province for a number of cases involving fraud.
The Saturday Dispatch spoke to sources with intimate knowledge of the meeting who said the leaders were concerned with the image of the party and that it needed “immediate intervention”.
However, the Hawks national spokesman, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said they had meetings with many people and denied there was a meeting with the Eastern Cape ANC.
“Matakata meets with a number of people who have complaints about several issues pertaining to a number of issues with the work and conduct of the Hawks office in general,” said Mulaudzi. “We don’t even know the political affiliation of those complainants when they request a meeting with Lieutenant-General Matakata. Her meetings remain confidential, to claim that there were ANC officials who travelled to Pretoria, that’s pure mischief from whoever is peddling these lies.”
One source said the meeting discussed Hawks provincial investigator Captain Lupumlo Lwana, his suspended boss General Nyameko Nogwanya and Mthatha Hawks commander Colonel Loyiso Mdingi.
Some of the developments after the meeting included the removal of dockets from Lwana, which included more than 20 cases. Nogwanya was suspended and accused of sexual harassment and the national task team, which Nogwanya was not happy with and later disbanded, was reassembled. An internal case against Mdingi was opened after he spoke “openly” against his national bosses, including Berning Ntlemeza, former head of the Hawks.
The dockets, according to Dispatch sources, involve close to R300-million and involve a number of government departments and individuals. “Another case involved a Buffalo City Metro fraud case worth R45-million,” said a source.
“Also, other cases involved the SA Security Services Agency case where more than R49-million was misappropriated, the Mandela scandal and Mnquma cases and others worth millions of rands.”
“There’s nothing wrong meeting with them if we have things we need to discuss that involve our members or concerning individual leaders of the ANC,” said Eastern Cape ANC secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi. — bonganif@dispatch.co. za/malibongwed@dispatch.co.za
Provincial ANC's concern over growing number of arrests of its members
The Saturday Dispatch can today reveal that ANC politicians from the Eastern Cape flew to Pretoria last year to discuss with the acting Hawks head, Lieutenant-General Yolisa Matakata, investigations the unit was handling.
The meeting is said to have discussed, among other things, the growing number of arrests of ANC members in the province. Between 2014 and 2016, more than 10 senior ANC leaders have been arrested by the Hawks in the province for a number of cases involving fraud.
The Saturday Dispatch spoke to sources with intimate knowledge of the meeting who said the leaders were concerned with the image of the party and that it needed “immediate intervention”.
However, the Hawks national spokesman, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said they had meetings with many people and denied there was a meeting with the Eastern Cape ANC.
“Matakata meets with a number of people who have complaints about several issues pertaining to a number of issues with the work and conduct of the Hawks office in general,” said Mulaudzi. “We don’t even know the political affiliation of those complainants when they request a meeting with Lieutenant-General Matakata. Her meetings remain confidential, to claim that there were ANC officials who travelled to Pretoria, that’s pure mischief from whoever is peddling these lies.”
One source said the meeting discussed Hawks provincial investigator Captain Lupumlo Lwana, his suspended boss General Nyameko Nogwanya and Mthatha Hawks commander Colonel Loyiso Mdingi.
Some of the developments after the meeting included the removal of dockets from Lwana, which included more than 20 cases. Nogwanya was suspended and accused of sexual harassment and the national task team, which Nogwanya was not happy with and later disbanded, was reassembled. An internal case against Mdingi was opened after he spoke “openly” against his national bosses, including Berning Ntlemeza, former head of the Hawks.
The dockets, according to Dispatch sources, involve close to R300-million and involve a number of government departments and individuals. “Another case involved a Buffalo City Metro fraud case worth R45-million,” said a source.
“Also, other cases involved the SA Security Services Agency case where more than R49-million was misappropriated, the Mandela scandal and Mnquma cases and others worth millions of rands.”
“There’s nothing wrong meeting with them if we have things we need to discuss that involve our members or concerning individual leaders of the ANC,” said Eastern Cape ANC secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi. — bonganif@dispatch.co. za/malibongwed@dispatch.co.za
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