BLF’s Andile Mngxitama says he found Brown’s questions on a WhatsApp group

Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama reportedly says questions recently sent in a letter to parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises investigating allegations of state capture at Eskom and other state-owned enterprises were from a “WhatsApp group”.

This after the questions were spotted to be similar to those of Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown on social media. The questions challenge the legal standing of the parliamentary inquiry into state capture.

Even the EFF’s deputy president Floyd Shivambu tweeted on the striking similarities between the letters:

We said all along that @DPE_ZA and BLF Gupta militia are run from same Saxonwold office. Look at the letter they both sent to to parliament. pic.twitter.com/u2xQedufyJ

— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) October 22, 2017

According to a TimesLIVE report, Mngxitama said he had found the questions on a WhatsApp group.

“It’s not the whole letter as you can see; only the relevant questions,” Mngxitama told the news website. “I found the questions on a what’s up (sic) group as I was writing to parliament and couldn’t locate [the] author.”

Mngxitama said in the final edit of the letter‚ the parentheses were mistakenly removed.

“You can see only the questions are lifted from the letter which we now know is from the DPE [department of public enterprises]. We apologise for any embarrassment this may have caused. We should have acknowledged that the questions were lifted from another source. I take full responsibility for this oversight‚” he said.

Meanwhile, Brown’s spokesperson Colin Cruywagen told the news website the minister wrote two letters to the committee on August 8 and again on October 16 “seeking clarity” on the terms of reference and the nature of the parliamentary probe, while BLF’s letter was sent on October 19.

“Minister Brown made it clear she will comply with the Parliamentary process and cooperate fully with the portfolio committee. It’s also clear the BLF submitted their letter on October 19. Ask the BLF why the copied Minister Brown’s letter,” Cruywagen said.

Mngxitama said despite the controversy surrounding the letters, the questions remained relevant and should be answered by the committee.

He said BLF had instructed its lawyers to apply for an interdict to stop the committee from continuing with its inquiry into alleged state capture at state-owed entities. Among BLF’s demands is the removal of former finance minister Pravin Gordhan from the committee.

“We believe Parliament is captured by White monopoly capital and it’s covering up white corruption. Pravin is there to cover up the corruption of WMC‚” Mngxitama said.

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