Brown Mogotsi insists he remains an ANC member, challenges party to charge him
Controversial North West businessman Brown Mogotsi has dismissed claims that he is no longer a member of the African National Congress (ANC), insisting that party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and others are mistaken.
Mogotsi, an alleged associate of embattled Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, has been widely accused of siphoning money from businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala to bankroll the ANC’s activities.
Last week, IOL reported that the ANC had distanced itself from allegations of organised criminal activity levelled against Mogotsi, stating that he was not a registered member of the party.
However, on Monday, Mogotsi struck back, maintaining that his membership remains valid and that he can prove it.
“I am a member of the ANC and I shall remain a member, a volunteer of the African National Congress. That is the status,” Mogotsi said in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
Last week, Mbalula told journalists that Mogotsi’s ANC membership had expired, meaning the North West businessman was no longer part of the movement.
Mogotsi rubbished the claims, accusing Mbalula of acting prematurely and relying on untested information presented to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
“He is relying on messages presented to the commission. I thought as a secretary-general of the oldest movement on the continent, he would allow the rule which he mentioned, the audi alteram (partem principle, to state his side of the story),” said Mogotsi.
He dismissed Mbalula’s assertions as “immaterial.”
Mogotsi added that he would not contest any decision by the ANC to terminate his membership.
“There is no need to fight. If a member of the Methodist Church is expelled, that does not stop him from praying. The issue that I appeared at this Madlanga thing should not be used as a pretext to say I should be removed as a member of the ANC and all of that. The processes of the ANC, the structures from the branch level, should charge me,” he said.
“I don’t know what instrument they are going to utilise. Are they going to go to the Madlanga evidence, bring it and charge me? There is no way. I can actually voluntarily step aside now so that Fikile Mbalula must never talk about me or talk to me.”
Last week, IOL reported that Mbalula compared the current infiltration of the ANC by criminal elements to the era of the anti-apartheid struggle, when thugs masqueraded as freedom fighters.
“Even during the days of struggle, we had ‘comrade tsotsis’. They looted in our name. Oliver Tambo warned us from Lusaka that these were not revolutionaries – they were agent provocateurs,” he said.
“Today, we face the same threat – people planted in our movement to hijack it from within,” Mbalula said.
He slammed Mogotsi as “a reflection of a bad ANC member, “if he is indeed one”, warning party members to be aware of “comrade tsotsi.”
Mogotsi’s name featured prominently through WhatsApp messages at the Madlanga Commission which showed how he used his ties to the ANC to get money from criminals for his benefit. Some monies were used to fund ANC activities.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News