Former transport minister Mac Maharaj conceded at last today that
he did not know whether national director of public prosecutions
Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy.
Advocate Marumo Moerane, for Ngcuka, extracted this admission from Maharaj during lengthy cross-examination before the Hefer Commission.
Maharaj is one of Ngcuka's two main accusers.
In September, he and former intelligence operative Mo Shaik were the first to publicly endorse allegations that Ngcuka acted as an agent for the apartheid government.
They are named accordingly in the latest terms of reference of the commission, which was set up to probe these allegations.
Moerane put it to Maharaj today that his client was never a spy or an agent for the apartheid security police or the former National Intelligence Service.
Maharaj at first refused to concede that he did not know whether this was the truth.
He said he believed there was "a series of question marks" over the matter and the commission needed to look into them.
After eventually admitting that he simply did not know, a triumphant Moerane said: "Now the whole of South Africa knows that Mac Maharaj does not know whether Bulelani Ngcuka was or was not a spy".
In his testimony before the commission Maharaj had gone to great lengths to explain his own investigation into Ngcuka's past since the Hefer inquiry started.
"There is never enough information until you have established a thing with 100% certainty," Maharaj said yesterday.
Meanwhile, it also emerged that former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt had been added on the list of accusers of national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
NDPP spokesman Sipho Ngwema confirmed that the National Prosecuting Authority, headed by Ngcuka, was investigating Nieuwoudt, whom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had refused amnesty. The current investigation related to the apartheid-era killing of the "Pebco Three" in the Eastern Cape.
Former transport minister Mac Maharaj revealed before the Hefer Commission on Thursday that Nieuwoudt was one of three former security branch officers who had confirmed spying allegations against Ngcuka in television interviews. During this process, Maharaj again faced Nieuwoudt -- one of the veteran liberation fighter's interrogators when the security branch arrested him in 1990.
The interviews were conducted for an e-tv program that was screened on September 16 on allegations that Ngcuka acted as an agent for the apartheid government.
Nieuwoudt's interview was recorded in former African National Congress intelligence chief Mo Shaik's house, Maharaj further revealed.
In September Shaik and Maharaj were the first to publicly confirm the allegation. It has since become clear that Shaik had been at least one of the sources of journalist Ranjeni Munusamy.
Maharaj said on Thursday he found Nieuwoudt in Shaik's house when he arrived there at the day of the e-tv interview. Shaik had informed him beforehand that his former interrogator would be there.
Nieuwoudt, a former colonel and head of the apartheid-era security police in Port Elizabeth, admitted in 1997 before the TRC that he helped kill the Pebco Three in 1985.
The three anti-apartheid activists - Qaqawuli Gedolozi, Sipho Hashe and Champion Galela - were killed after security police had abducted them at the Port Elizabeth airport. Nieuwoudt also allegedly participated in the killing of activist Steve Biko.
The TRC turned down his amnesty application for not fully disclosing all his crimes.
Maharaj's testimony on Tuesday indicated that the e-tv interviews were conducted long before Munusamy's article on allegations of Ngucka being an apartheid spy appeared in the City Press on September 7.
An interview in which Maharaj himself confirmed the allegations, was recorded on August 19.
This was also before the former transport minister met President Thabo Mbeki to warn that he planned to go public with the allegations against Ngcuka.
This meeting took place on August 23, Maharaj testified. It was the same day on which Ngcuka held a media conference to announce that there was a prima facie corruption case against Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Maharaj said he warned Mbeki during their meeting about this pending conference. He had learned about it beforehand.
Maharaj will retake the stand before judge Joos Hefer on Thursday afternoon in his third day of testifying before the commission.
He has been under cross-examination by three advocates for two successive days - Sapa.
Advocate Marumo Moerane, for Ngcuka, extracted this admission from Maharaj during lengthy cross-examination before the Hefer Commission.
Maharaj is one of Ngcuka's two main accusers.
In September, he and former intelligence operative Mo Shaik were the first to publicly endorse allegations that Ngcuka acted as an agent for the apartheid government.
They are named accordingly in the latest terms of reference of the commission, which was set up to probe these allegations.
Moerane put it to Maharaj today that his client was never a spy or an agent for the apartheid security police or the former National Intelligence Service.
Maharaj at first refused to concede that he did not know whether this was the truth.
He said he believed there was "a series of question marks" over the matter and the commission needed to look into them.
After eventually admitting that he simply did not know, a triumphant Moerane said: "Now the whole of South Africa knows that Mac Maharaj does not know whether Bulelani Ngcuka was or was not a spy".
In his testimony before the commission Maharaj had gone to great lengths to explain his own investigation into Ngcuka's past since the Hefer inquiry started.
"There is never enough information until you have established a thing with 100% certainty," Maharaj said yesterday.
Meanwhile, it also emerged that former security policeman Gideon Nieuwoudt had been added on the list of accusers of national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
NDPP spokesman Sipho Ngwema confirmed that the National Prosecuting Authority, headed by Ngcuka, was investigating Nieuwoudt, whom the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had refused amnesty. The current investigation related to the apartheid-era killing of the "Pebco Three" in the Eastern Cape.
Former transport minister Mac Maharaj revealed before the Hefer Commission on Thursday that Nieuwoudt was one of three former security branch officers who had confirmed spying allegations against Ngcuka in television interviews. During this process, Maharaj again faced Nieuwoudt -- one of the veteran liberation fighter's interrogators when the security branch arrested him in 1990.
The interviews were conducted for an e-tv program that was screened on September 16 on allegations that Ngcuka acted as an agent for the apartheid government.
Nieuwoudt's interview was recorded in former African National Congress intelligence chief Mo Shaik's house, Maharaj further revealed.
In September Shaik and Maharaj were the first to publicly confirm the allegation. It has since become clear that Shaik had been at least one of the sources of journalist Ranjeni Munusamy.
Maharaj said on Thursday he found Nieuwoudt in Shaik's house when he arrived there at the day of the e-tv interview. Shaik had informed him beforehand that his former interrogator would be there.
Nieuwoudt, a former colonel and head of the apartheid-era security police in Port Elizabeth, admitted in 1997 before the TRC that he helped kill the Pebco Three in 1985.
The three anti-apartheid activists - Qaqawuli Gedolozi, Sipho Hashe and Champion Galela - were killed after security police had abducted them at the Port Elizabeth airport. Nieuwoudt also allegedly participated in the killing of activist Steve Biko.
The TRC turned down his amnesty application for not fully disclosing all his crimes.
Maharaj's testimony on Tuesday indicated that the e-tv interviews were conducted long before Munusamy's article on allegations of Ngucka being an apartheid spy appeared in the City Press on September 7.
An interview in which Maharaj himself confirmed the allegations, was recorded on August 19.
This was also before the former transport minister met President Thabo Mbeki to warn that he planned to go public with the allegations against Ngcuka.
This meeting took place on August 23, Maharaj testified. It was the same day on which Ngcuka held a media conference to announce that there was a prima facie corruption case against Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Maharaj said he warned Mbeki during their meeting about this pending conference. He had learned about it beforehand.
Maharaj will retake the stand before judge Joos Hefer on Thursday afternoon in his third day of testifying before the commission.
He has been under cross-examination by three advocates for two successive days - Sapa.
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