Madisha says he has witnesses in R500 000 saga

Madisha is adamant he gave the R500 000 to Blade Nzimande

Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha says he has two witnesses in the R500 000 saga, which he claims to have given to SA Communist Party (SACP) secretary general Blade Nzimande as a donation to the party in 2002.

SABC News is in possession of the affidavit Madisha made to the police. Nzimande denied having received the money, even though he knew the alleged donor, businessman Charles Modise.

In the statement, Madisha claims he handed the money to Nzimande at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Parktown, Johannesburg.

Hotel room
In another affidavit, a witness claims he helped Madisha carry the money to a hotel room where Nzimande was present. The witness left after delivering one of two refuse bags to the room. Madisha's affidavit corroborates this sequence of events. The witness claims Madisha returned a while later without the bags. However, Madisha does not remember the exact date. All he recalls is that it happened on a Saturday in 2002.

He also alleges that he and Nzimande met Modise at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg where they thanked him. Madisha does not remember audit reports between 2002 and 2007 either. This is despite the fact that he sat on the finance committee of the party.

Solid evidence
Today, the former SACP treasurer, Thaba Mufamadi, refused to comment. The party says it hopes the evidence is solid.

“I'm expecting a witness who's not going to give evidence of hearsay, a person who will say, ‘I did witness the exchange of money, yes I saw the counting of money … I saw these people exchange money at point x’. If (the meeting place was) an office, it should be an office with a name, if it's hotel, it should be a hotel room with a number or a conference room with a name... that is evidence,” says SACP chairperson, Gwede Mantashe.

The SACP task team is expected to report back to the party in just over a week about what really happened.