Lying acceptable, says new premier

Nelspruit - Politicians who are caught lying to the public should not be axed or otherwise disciplined because the practice is a widespread and accepted political technique, Mpumatanga's Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu, said yesterday.

Speaking at his first press conference as Mpumalanga premier, Mahlangu insisted that politicians all over the world lied about their actions for a range of reasons, including frustration.

"It is nothing new. Many politicians publicly deny they did certain things but then later admit to them. It is accepted and is not unusual anywhere in the world.

"It wasn't the end of Bill Clinton's life and I personally don't find it to be a very bad thing," said Mahlangu.

Mahlangu also confirmed that re-appointed finance MEC, Jacques Modipane, had privately admitted he lied when he publicly denied having signed three illegal promissory notes worth R340-million last year.

The promissory notes illegally used 32 government game reserves as collateral and were secretly issued by the Mpumalanga Parks Board (MPB) without Reserve Bank, treasury or national Cabinet approval.

Modipane vehemently denied that he knew anything about the deal when it was first exposed in the press last year, and instead accused senior MPO officials of forging his signature on the documents.

Corruption investigator Judge Willem Heath was forced to send the documents for forensic handwriting analysis in both Pretoria and New York before Modipane privately retracted his denial.

Mahlangu repeatedly stressed that he re-appointed Modipane and two other disgraced. politicians to his new cabinet because they were the most competent people available.

Other controversial appointments include Mpumalanga's discredited former safety and security MEC, Steve Mabona, as head of the new public works, transport, roads and safety and security department.

Mabona was forced to resign in 1997 when the Moldenhauer Commission found him unfitt for government after ruling that he lied about his role in issuing two fraudulent driver's licences to parliamentary deputy speaker Baleka Mbete.

Mahlangu also reappointed embattled former education MEC David Mabuza to the sports and culture portfolio, despite ongoing police investigations into the province's 1998 metric exam results. Initial probes found that the education department fraudulently increased the province's average matric pass rate by 20%. - African Eye News Service