‘I’m a whilstblower but police treated me like a criminal’
THE man who claims he delivered a R5-million bribe to Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on behalf of Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane alleges Hawks officials tortured him after they failed to persuade him to implicate former president Jacob Zuma as his handler.
In an interview with the Sunday Tribune before he went into hiding, Phadima Fukula said Hawks investigators treated him like a criminal but that he was a whistle-blower.
“My crime was to expose Mabuyane and Judge Zondo and now they want me to withdraw my statement and make a new one claiming that I was sent by President Zuma when I made those claims, which isn’t true,” he said.
Last week the Hawks in the Eastern Cape said they were looking for Fukula in order to charge him with perjury.
“The case of perjury was opened after two conflicting versions on the two cases that he had opened were discovered. A case of crimen injuria was also reported by the premier against the suspect. The Hawks investigated all four cases in order to ascertain their veracity,” the Hawks statement said.
Justice Zondo has denied receiving a bribe. Mabuyane described Fukula’s claims as frivolous and described him as a liar.
During our interview, Fukula said police only wanted the evidence implicating Mabuyane so they could get rid of it. “They beat me up asking me to hand over the phone I used to communicate with Mabuyane and they ransacked my room looking for it, but I kept it somewhere safe and I’m prepared to reveal its content in court,” he said.
Fukula said he stood by his statement that Mabuyane sent him to deliver a R5m bribe to Justice Zondo when he was chairing the State Capture Commission.
“If police were interested in investigating my claims, I would have taken them through the evidence step by step, but they are only interested in covering up the case and exonerating Mabuyane.”
He claimed he had Whatsapp and text messages that would “prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the premier and I have been talking and he has been sending me to do his dirty errands”.
Shortly after Fukula opened the case in February 2021 police claimed he had gone into hiding. “I wasn’t hiding. I was walking around freely and staying at home until I got a tip-off that there was a hit on me,” Fukula said.
Fukula was arrested in Johannesburg in April 2021 and taken to the Eastern Cape Hawks offices where he claimed he was tortured and beaten.
“The police assaulted me as they were forcing me to withdraw (my statement) and sign a new one that they had prepared, claiming that Zuma was my handler. I told them I haven’t spoken to Zuma in my life but I have evidence that I have been speaking to Mabuyane.”
Fukula was released by an East London magistrate without being charged after the court found that his case was not on the court roll.
In his initial statement to police on February 17, 2021, Fukula claimed he was given R10000 by Mabuyane in March 2016 to influence some of the branches in the Eastern Cape not to vote for Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who was to contest the ANC elective conference against Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017.
In his follow-up statement, Fukula claimed he was given a bag of money by Mabuyane in Rustenburg in July 2017 to deliver to Justice Zondo who was allegedly waiting in a car along the way. “I delivered the bag full of cash,” he claimed.
Mabuyane subsequently opened a case of crimen injuria against Fukula.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson, Captain Yolisa Mgolodela on Friday denied Fukula’s claim that he had been assaulted.
“We haven’t received any complaint from Phadima about the alleged incident,” she said.
Mgolodela added that Fukula was expected to appear in court on August 29 to answer to the perjury charges.