Mantashe slams Madonsela over apartheid-era bailout report

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has criticised former public protector Thuli Madonsela for not releasing a report implicating Absa into allegations that it benefited from billions of apartheid-era loans.

Mantashe has compared Madonsela’s handling of the apartheid bailout report to that of her State of Capture report, saying it supports the perception that she prioritised cases against the ANC over others.

“I listened to the past public protector [who was] at pains to explain how she wrote that report and so forth.

“The report was written and never published, that is the issue. This report was written [and] kept under the lid, but the State of Capture report was written in a rush and released,” he said.

He also said the ruling party wanted the report to be made public.

“Let’s see it. Let’s allow it to be in public and debate,” he said.

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The public protector’s spokesperson, Oupa Segwale, on Wednesday said the investigation into the 1985/1991 “lifeboats” was still ongoing and all parties involved had until the end of next month to comment before a report could be finalised.

On Tuesday, Madonsela’s successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, laid criminal charges with the police over the leaking of the preliminary report. Her office said in terms of the Public Protector Act, information could only legally be publicised with Mkhwebane’s consent.

The charges were pursued in order to establish how the leak had occurred and who was behind it, Segwale said.

An investigation in 1997 by a covert UK-based asset recovery agency called Ciex investigated how R1.5 billion was offered to the now-defunct Bankorp group of banks disguised as a bank “lifeboat”.

Mkhwebane recommended in the draft report that Absa should be forced to pay back R2.25 billion as interest from a bailout given to Bankorp before the bank was acquired by Absa in 1992.

She also recommended that a commission of inquiry into apartheid-era looting of the state should be considered by President Jacob Zuma.

Speaking at the Cape Town Press Club on Monday, Madonsela refused to comment into reports that Mkhwebane altered her report. She suggested that the report could be used for “nefarious” purposes.