Controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi was grilled on Wednesday over contradictions and alleged perjury in his testimony at the Madlanga commission probing corruption in the criminal justice system.
Proceedings grew increasingly tense as evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson pointed out inconsistencies in Mogotsi’s affidavits.
“You have lied under oath in this affidavit … which is perjury, is it not?” Chaskalson said.
Mogotsi denied intentionally misleading the commission, insisting that he had relied on affidavits prepared by lawyers.
“I stand by my submission that you’re lying in relation to what happened then. You lied under oath then,” Chaskalson said.
Earlier, Chaskalson had told Mogotsi his allegations that KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini were US Central Intelligence Agency agents appeared to be misdirection.
Mogotsi told the commission on Tuesday that Mkhwanazi and the monarch had been recruited by the CIA.
In his statement, Mogotsi said he had [allegedly] obtained information from one of his sources that King Misuzulu and Mkhwanazi were recruited by and actively worked for the CIA.
Mogotsi also told the commission he had been informed that Mkhwanazi and the king were recruited to protect Western interests in South Africa.
He explained this claim was linked to a coal mine and export routes through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. Mogotsi said there were concerns the government might halt coal exports, some of which involved Israeli interests, especially after South Africa took Israel to the International Criminal Court.
However, Chaskalson pointed out discrepancies in Mogotsi’s testimony, noting that there was no coal mine in Richards Bay and that the coal terminal there is owned by a consortium of more than 10 different mining companies, each of which has an export quota.
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