‘My boss is an ANC zombie’

THEMBA Godi, the chairman of parliament’s primary watchdog committee, was bankrolled by the ANC to stand in last year’s general elections and is a mere ANC “zombie”, according to his own party’s deputy.

Godi, who has not voted against the ANC in a single budget vote since that election, denied this and claimed it was part of a power struggle in the tiny African People’s Convention (APC), of which he is the only MP.

He chairs the powerful standing committee on public accounts, which monitors government corruption and spending.

It is the only parliamentary portfolio committee headed by an opposition MP, supposedly to give it greater credence.

Now it is alleged that the ANC selected and paid for the MP it wanted to head Scopa, creating its own “opposition”.

The allegations emerged in the National Assembly this week when DA chief whip John Steenhuisen claimed the ANC had paid R605 000 in registration deposits required by the APC to contest the local and provincial elections.

Now APC deputy leader Ramahlalerwa Mathume has said that in the run-up to the election the party had no finances and members were urged to raise cash for registration. However, he said, Godi later told a meeting that their efforts had paid off and the money had been secured.

He alleged that SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng played a key role, offering to act as a middleman between Godi and Luthuli House.

Godi, he claimed, went to Luthuli House, where he acquired the money in cash and instructions on how to pay it back in kind.

Mathume said he never saw the money, but that Godi “took me in his confidence and told me that Hlaudi was making ends meet and hewould speak toNo 1 directly”.

He said the money was why, of late, Godi and the APC had adopted a stance that was so pro-President Jacob Zuma.

“He is a zombie of Zuma’s ANC,” he said.

But Godi denied the allegations, saying that Mathume was disgruntled and going through a disciplinary process.

He also said the party had never received a sum of about R600 000 from any donor.

Going into the election, Godi said, they had R1.6-million available from various funders and did not struggle to pay the deposit.

Motsoeneng dismissed the allegations as “craziness”, saying he had no involvement.

He also said Scopa was not the only committee to which the ‘PRO-ZUMA’: Themba Godi, chairman of the standing committee on public accounts SABC reported, and as such had a professional relationship with all political parties.

“I don’t understand how my name came into this. People just like Hlaudi,” he said.

ANC spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said the allegations were “a desperate attempt to discredit the ANC” and that “we have never paid election fees for this or any party”.