The premier-elect of South Africa's richest province yesterday denied allegations that he had mismanaged donor money channelled via the Dublin-based agency, Trocaire, during the last years of white rule.
Due to be inaugurated as premier of Gauteng on Monday, Mr Mathole Motshekga dismissed the allegations, published yesterday in South Africa's Mail and Guard- ian, as "sensational fabrications" and an attempt to "confuse the people". Quoting from a memorandum purportedly written by Trocaire official Mr Chris McInerney, the newspaper accused Dr Motshekga of falsely claiming to have established legal aid centres in order to justify the expenditure of donor money.
Mr McInerney said from his home in Dublin last night that he recalled concerns being raised about the centres by a Trocaire staff member who is no longer with the organisation. "Due to getting insufficient answers when we voiced our concerns at the time we felt we had no option but to cancel the grant," he said. Dr Motshekga, a lawyer, was head at the time, the late 1980s, of the National Institute of Public Interest Law and Research. Funded by international donor money, the institute ran a number of legal aid units and "took up cudgels on behalf of the oppressed black majority".
An extract from the memorandum quoted by the Mail and Guardian read: "Place names and place histories mentioned in the report (from Dr Motshekga's institute) appear to be fictitious . . . Pius (Langa) has no doubt that the reports are extremely fraudulent."
Mr Langa, now deputy president of South Africa's Constitutional Court, was then president of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers. He could not be contacted for comment yesterday. In an interview with The Irish Times yesterday, Dr Motshegka described the Mail and Guardian report as a regurgitation of earlier baseless allegations. He admitted to differences of opinion with Mr McInerney, sparked, he said, by Mr McInerney's attempts to introduce new rules for the control of money and to apply them retrospectively. Mr McInerney says this was not the case.
Dr Motshekga insisted that the rules were inappropriate in the conditions at the time: a state of emergency was in place over the whole country and the white government regarded foreign-funded anti-apartheid organisations with extreme suspicion. His refusal to apply the new rules led to disputes and the withdrawal of money channelled through Trocaire after the receipt of the first instalment, Dr Motshekga said.
The premier-elect, who served as a vice-president of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, or Nadel, denied that he had ever quarrelled with Mr Langa. "I was never notified by Nadel of any investigation into my private or official activities," he said.
In a statement issued on Dr Motshekga's behalf, his legal partner, Mr Julian Meltz, denied that Dr Motshekga had been approached by President Nelson Mandela's office over what the Mail and Guardian labelled "his shady past." While acknowledging that Trocaire had withdrawn funding from Dr Motshekga's institute, Mr Meltz said: "Other funders have not only continued to express their confidence in the institute but have increased support and funding for the institute."