Johannesburg - UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said he is surprised why the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) is only thinking of obtaining cellphone records of MPs, citing that they should have confiscated them a long time ago.
The Star reported that the late Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Section 194 inquiry chairperson Richard Dyantyi, and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina had demanded a whopping R200 000 each to make the inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office “go away”.
It was also reported that Joemat-Pettersson flew from Cape Town for that meeting and represented Majodina and Dyantyi.
Mkhwebane’s husband, Mandla Skosana, handed over all the WhatsApp messages between him and Joemat-Pettersson to support his claim that three MPs tried to extort a bribe from him.
Joemat-Pettersson died on June 5, 2023.
Her death, which has now, through investigations, been declared unnatural, occurred a few days after The Star broke the alleged bribery scandal.
A number of people took to different social media platforms to speculate about the cause of death. She has since been buried, and it is unknown how she died.
Joemat-Pettersson had recently been cleared of any corruption by Parliament’s ethics committee and the latest allegations (the bribery allegations), according to unconfirmed allegations, might have triggered her death.
It was later reported that the Hawks applied for a court order to access the cellphone records of ANC MPs linked to Mkhwebane’s bribery allegations.
“The Hawks should have confiscated the cellphones from day one,” Holomisa said.
Speaking in an interview with one of the broadcasters, Holomisa said he does not even want to think of a scenario where the Hawks are denied access to the cellphone records.
“If the Hawks are denied access, that cloud will continue to hang over the heads of the suspects, and I hope that this matter can be speeded up so that we can continue with our work,” said Holomisa.
He said he thinks that Mkhwebane fulfilled her promise that she had the conversation through her husband with the late MP, and she furnished as her evidence WhatsApp and the voice recordings.
“It depends on where one stands; some people say that was the voice of the late MP, Tina. So the onus is on the police who are investigating and perhaps the voice experts to determine whether indeed that is Joemat-Pettersson’s voice, but so far, it would appear I would give that the PP’s version of evidence about 65% to 70%,” he said.
Holomisa said he is basing his rating in the connection between the WhatsApp and the voice of the person who was trying to extort the husband of the public protector. He said at least she has brought evidence.
Last week, Mkhwebane said in a press briefing that the recordings were evidence that Joemat-Pettersson had agreed to a R600 000 bribe to halt the ongoing inquiry against her.
Following Mkhwebane’s media briefing, both Majodina and Dyantyi denied being parties to the bribery scandal, with Dyantyi saying: “I do not respond to hearsay.”
Majodina said that from the outset, she indicated that she knew nothing about these bribery claims.
“Look, I said from the outset that I knew nothing about these wild allegations made by whoever. Mentioning my name by whoever does not confirm that I know about these allegations… No further comment; I’m still awaiting concrete evidence that links me to this,” Majodina said.
Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale confirmed to The Star that the unit did not issue any statement regarding the obtaining of cellphone records.
The Star