Holomisa gagged over graft claims
FRUSTRATED: HOLOMISA TO APPLY FOR SUPREME COURT APPEAL
United Democratic Movement leader claims billions are lost through dodgy deals at the government pension body – but a judge yesterday silenced him ‘because they don’t want us to talk about it’, Holomisa said.
Says judge erred in granting order, and that PIC has not asked for evidence of the claims he has made.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa has vowed to fight a gagging order preventing him from alleging BEE investment firm Lebashe Investment Group and prominent businesspeople might be involved in corruption at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
“Because of the position of power of the PIC, if there is a hint of corruption, that leaks into the whole financial system,” economist Chris Hart said yesterday. “It’s not something which can be avoided. And when you fight corruption, corruption fights back.”
Investments worth billions of rands had seen the PIC feature for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks.
Lebashe Investment Group, former deputy finance minister Phillip Moleketi, Harith General Partners, Harith Fund Managers and businessmen Warren Wheatley and Tshepo Mahloele managed to put the screws on Holomisa’s claims of “serious corruption, dodging of due diligence, misrepresentation, money laundering and purging of staff (possibly for a cover-up) in dealings of the PIC, which could only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
“The extent of the rot could be worth billions of rands, which makes it potentially bigger than the Gupta scandal,” Hart said.
Holomisa went straight to the top when he claimed: “Through PIC, [Daniel] Matjila appears to have tentacles across various sectors of society – from unions, political parties and possibly parts of the fourth estate.”
With no reasons given by Judge Vivian Tlhapi, Holomisa was left frustrated. So much so, he filed an application for leave to appeal yesterday afternoon with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Holomisa told The Citizen the PIC had not approached him for evidence of the claims he had been making.
“They just don’t want us to talk about it. The things I’ve said have been in the public domain for a long time, almost 18 months. My job was to say, but where is government? Nobody is accounting for, or responding to these claims,” Holomisa said.
In his application for leave to appeal, the UDM president said Thlapi had erred in granting the order since his statements were not defamatory and simply levelled allegations of wrongdoing while asking President Cyril Ramaphosa to widen the scope of the state capture commission.
“They should be thanking me, and now I’m told to be quiet. It cannot be,” said Holomisa. “I have the right to freedom of speech. This can end up in the Constitutional Court.”
Hart noted government pensions were sacrosanct and Holomisa had made serious allegations. “When people retire they don’t have a second chance. The fund has to be looked after.”