DA has evidence that ANC offered Pascoe a deal
6 May 2014
The Democratic Alliance has today requested the SAPS to investigate suspected bribery and corruption, in terms of the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, at the Central Cape Town police station.
The DA is in possession of evidence suggesting that a senior ANC councillor in Cape Town attempted to bribe DA councillor Sheval Arendse to leave the DA and publicly join the ANC before the election.
The evidence also confirms that the ANC bribed Grant Pascoe to leave the DA and join the ANC.
Late last week Cllr Arendse made it known that he had been approached by the ANC with a financial offer to leave the DA and join that party. Wisely, he recorded the conversation between himself and Cllr Jerimia Thuynsma, a senior ANC councillor in Cape Town.
The DA has this recording. This weekend we sent it to an expert audio analyst to improve its quality, and subsequently the tape was also transcribed by legal transcription professionals. We have the original recording, the better-quality recording, the full transcript, as well as an affidavit from Cllr. Arendse as to what he was offered, and who made the offer. We have handed all of this evidence over to the SAPS today.
In the conversation, Cllr Thuynsma can be heard confirming that Grant Pascoe received an inducement for leaving the DA. Indeed, Cllr Thuynsma explains that the contract was channelled through Pascoe's ex-wife, as that would be impossible to trace back to Pascoe himself.
In addition, Cllr Arendse was offered a R5 million government contract to leave the DA and join the ANC at a press conference before the election.
Cllr Thuynsma can also be heard making reference to certain contracts in ANC-governed municipalities on the West Coast. We will be following up and investigating these references separately. There may well be more charges to follow in this regard. Worryingly, there is also a specific reference to "Fransman " and "the deputy minister" on the recording.
The contents of the recording, the transcript, and the affidavit, constitute considerable prima facie evidence of bribery and corruption by at least one, and possible other, senior ANC office bearers in the Western Cape. We believe that we have a responsibility to report this evidence to the SAPS and ask them to investigate it fully.
We have long suspected, and other evidence has indicated, that the ANC leadership in the Western Cape has followed a deliberate strategy of trying to "buy" over DA public representatives with promises of corrupt government contracts and lucrative cash payments. This started with Operation Reclaim, which we exposed 18 months ago, and has now moved into this new and even more disgraceful phase. It is clearly illegal and corrupt, and the DA will expose it as we did Operation Reclaim.
When evidence like this is brought to our attention, we have a duty to report it to the SAPS and ensure that it is fully investigated, and that those responsible are held accountable.
If the ANC in the Western Cape cannot win the province at the ballot box, they will try every other (and often illegal) means. Tomorrow voters in the Western Cape should vote for the DA so that we can continue rooting out corruption and creating jobs in this province.
Statement issued by Shaun August, DA Cape Metro Chair, May 6 2014
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