‘Some of us are treated worse than De Klerk,’ says Zwane at Bongo corruption case

High-profile ANC politicians again came out in their numbers to support corruption-accused ANC MP Bongani Bongo when he appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Bongo, the former state security minister, heard on Friday that his case had been transferred to the Western Cape High Court. He will appear for a pre-trial hearing on April 17, with an expected trial date to be set in August.

Bongo is accused of trying to disrupt a Parliamentary inquiry into state capture at Eskom in 2017 by allegedly offering the lead evidence leader a bribe in return for taking sick leave, News24 previously reported.

While Bongo did not make any comments to the media on Friday, his colleagues were happy to make their thoughts known.

They included former minerals minister Mosebenzi Zwane, former transport minister Joe Maswanganyi and fellow ANC MP Mervyn Dirks.

“We are happy that this matter is finally here so that comrade Bongo can also be afforded an opportunity for his side to be known,” Zwane said outside the court on Friday.

He claimed that certain ANC members were being treated unfairly and referenced the recent furore around former deputy president FW de Klerk’s comments that apartheid was not a crime against humanity. De Klerk’s foundation this week apologised and retracted the comments.

“We feel that there is a certain agenda. When issues were raised by De Klerk, people came to his defence very quickly, for his democratic rights, but nobody raises these issues with us,” Zwane said.

“We think that it is unfair. Some of us are treated worse than De Klerk.”

Other ANC members such as Lawrence McDonald and Tshilidzi Munyai were also among the politicians and ANC supporters who supported Bongo.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, will shake us. We remain unshakable. No one will stop us from supporting comrade Bongo,” Munyai said.

Bongo also had some high-profile supporters at his last court appearance in January, with Zwane and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo present then too.

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