DURBAN – The MK party has rejected claims by former Police Minister Bheki Cele that it is funded by alleged diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg.
Cele made the allegation during his appearance before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating police corruption on Thursday. He told MPs that MK Party leader Jacob Zuma had ties to Liebenberg and had financially benefitted from him
“There is a guy called LL – Louis Liebenberg. He’s a king of zama zamas. He cleans diamonds and everything. He has millions and millions.
He funds the MK Party,” Cele said during the hearing.
Liebenberg, his wife, Desiree Liebenberg, Magdelena Petronella Kleynhans, Johannes Petrus Badenhorst, Helena Dorothea Amy Schulenburg, Adriaan Dewald Strydom, Christelle Badenhorst, Nicolize van Heerden and Walter Niendinger are accused of more than R4 billion in fraud.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela has dismissed the claims, saying the party has no connection to the alleged diamond dealer. “Cele’s allegations are entirely baseless and malicious.
As a former Minister of Police, Mr Cele had both the authority and the responsibility to act on any such information if it were true.
His failure to do so exposes these claims as nothing more than reckless political posturing intended to mislead the public.
“The MK party views Mr Cele’s conduct as a desperate attempt to score cheap political favour at the Ad Hoc Committee and we strongly denounce his irresponsible and dishonest statements,” Ndlela said.
During questioning on Thursday, Cele said that he knew Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala ‘very well’, but the former minister retracted that on Friday.
Cele explained that he had known Matlala only for three or four months, which was not sufficient to use that term. “It could not qualify (it as) ‘very well’.
Maybe in reflection, ‘very well’ would have been an overarching kind of a term.
‘Very well’ would not stay. If I need to withdraw ‘very well’, definitely I will take ‘very well’ out,” Cele told the committee.
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