Phosa testifies in multi-million rand defamation suit

Former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa told the High Court in Pretoria on Friday that his involvement in the spy report implicating Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza to apartheid-era murders was simply in a bid to unearth the truth of how masses were killed during apartheid.

“We cannot hide the truth to protect one another. Families have widows and children don’t have parents. They were killed. This document talks about that. Why should we not know?” Phosa made the remarks as he was cross-examined by Mabuza’s counsel, Etienne Labuschagne SC.

Labuschagne said Phosa and his close associate Nick Elliot plotted about the controversial document before penning it around March 2014.

“You didn’t only author it, but fabricated the information with the intention of causing harm within the ANC for Mr Mabuza,” said Labuschagne.

He said when Phosa finally handed the report to the ANC, through deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte in September 2014, he was hoping the damning report would spell the downfall of Mabuza.

“I put it to you that you were trying to discredit the plaintiff. You were setting in motion steps to have him removed as provincial chairperson of the ANC in Mpumalanga and as premier,” Labuschagne told Phosa.

The former Mpumalanga premier rubbished Labuschagne’s assertions as “very, very false”.

“I have nothing to do with who is premier of any province. It’s not my job. I just want to know (the truth) so that the families who lost their relatives should know who killed them. The perpetrators must come to the fore. That’s all I want to know,” said the Mpumalanga businessman.

The report alleged that Mabuza participated in spying on his ANC comrades, including President Jacob Zuma, between 1985 and 1993.

On Thursday, the court heard that despite being in the same courtroom over the past few days, there has been no formal greetings or any form of acknowledgement between Phosa and his erstwhile comrade Mabuza. Both men are influential ANC politicians in Mpumalanga.

The ANC bigwigs are wrangling in the High Court in Pretoria over the R10 million defamation lawsuit filed by Mabuza after Phosa claimed he received the spy report from unknown individuals and he then sent it to the ANC for investigation.

Labuschagne said the relationship between the incumbent Mpumalanga premier and the former premier had soured over the years.

Labuschagne questioned why Phosa chose to “ignore” Mabuza and forward the damning top secret spy report to ANC national officials.

“This past week you and the plaintiff (Mabuza) have been seated in the same courtroom and you have not greeted. I want to put it you that this fact that you won’t even acknowledge him by greeting, and you ignored him when you sent the letter to Ms Duarte means that you have an axe to grind with the premier,” said Labuschagne.

Phosa responded: “I’ve no axe to grind. He’s in politics and I’m in business…”

He said the two political heavyweights in Mpumalanga were not competing on any level.

Mabuza looked on, attentively, as his counsel cross-examined Phosa.

Several ANC members aligned to Mabuza were in court on Friday. The public gallery was packed as Labuschagne cross-examined Phosa.