Former minister denies reopening Winnie Mandela probe
Former Safety and Security Minister, Sydney Mufamadi, has dismissed claims that he instructed police to reopen the investigation into the late struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
The investigation dealt with the murder of Stompie Seipei.
Mufamadi held a media briefing in Parktown on Monday to respond to allegations made in the documentary "Winnie".
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In the documentary, the former director of the apartheid government's Covert Strategic Communications (Stratcom) Vic McPherson reveals how they targeted Madikizela-Mandela.
The former head of the Soweto Murder and Robbery Squad, Henk Heslinga, directly implicated Mufamadi as the person who requested the investigation be reopened.
The investigation was aimed at discrediting Madikizela-Mandela.
"The police commissioner at the time, George Fifaz, reopened the investigation at the request of Tony Leon, the then leader Democratic Party which later became the DA," Mafumadi told journalists.
Mafumadi said the documentary is one-sided, as he was not given right of reply.
"You could set the country on fire and with it the ANC and the gains we made in 1994 could perish while we are fighting over nothing. Because Winnie is our own, we know her, we know her place in our movement, her place in the country, if there are people who have more authority on who Winnie was, it is us."
He admitted that the mass democratic movement distanced itself from Madikizela-Mandela at the time due to the controversy around the Mandela United Football Club.
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