ANC Western Cape lays charges of perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury, defamation and defeating the ends of justice against Dan Plato

18 May 2016

The ANC Western Cape will today open a docket for criminal investigation into DA MEC, Dan Plato and his dubious sources.

Plato is subject to the Executive Members Ethics Act no 82 of 1998 which, in terms of s2 (b) (v), requires him not to act in a way that may compromise the credibility or integrity of his office or of the Government.

Also, in terms of s2(b) (iv) of the Executive Members Ethics Act no 82 of 1998, Plato is prohibited, as MEC, from using his position or any information entrusted to him to improperly benefit any other person or a political party.

Plato orchestrated and co-operated with the office of a private NGO, Projects Abroad Human Rights in the drafting of an affidavit by a certain Pierre Mark Anthony Wyngaardt (Wyngaardt).

The affidavit by Wyngaardt was sent to Plato on 21 September 2012 and he (Plato) has previously acknowledged to have been in possession of it.

Armed with this information, Plato was under an obligation to speedily and, in the best interests of the public, hand the information over to the South African Police Service for further investigation or; he could’ve forwarded the information to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate the involvement of the Police personnel allegedly implicated in the Affidavit.

Instead, Plato determined that he would leak the information to embarrass the ANC prior to the national elections in 2014 and now again prior to local elections in 2016..

It came as no surprise when the National Prosecuting Authority declined to prosecute anyone as the untested allegations from Wyngaardt were “devoid of all truth; the complainant lacked credibility and his version of events was unable to be corroborated in any respect”.

In an ironic twist of morbid fate, one of the gangsters that Plato regularly consorts with under the guise of holding peace talks recorded a conversation with Plato where he (Plato) stated that he will use the Wyngaardt Affidavit as part of a smear campaign against the ANC on the Cape Flats.

As the ANC we are outraged that Plato has used the information he obtained as a result of him holding office as MEC, to manipulate an NGO to compile an affidavit from a known gangster in which he deliberately implicates the ANC in the Western Cape.

We have also established that this NGO, Projects Abroad Human Rights, amongst others, received Western Cape Government support and resources in its establishment. In essence, the NGO`s are proxies for Plato and are also active in influencing the Prison Parole Board to release gangsters favoured by Plato.

Another NGO linked to Plato called First Community Resource Centre was awarded a R11 million tender in 2012. The ANC is concerned about the failure of the DA administration in the City to publicly account for the expenditure of this huge amount of taxpayer’s money as nobody appears to know exactly what the R11 million rand was used for.

Plato is also known to regularly meet gangsters after their release to encourage them to manufacture information which falsely implicates his political opponents.

The ANC also believes that Plato has used Western Cape Government resources to cover up his involvement and close ties to these known gangsters. In doing so, Plato has acted unethically and may deliberately have not handed the Wyngaardt Affidavit to the Police for initial investigation, as he is obliged to do, as part of a party political smear campaign and plot against the ANC.

The ANC is proud of its MK cadres who faithfully serve the nation in all spheres of government and in particular in the Police Service in the Western Cape.

The ANC is further concerned that so called Police Ombudsman, Advocate Vusi Pikoli also allowed his office to be used by a rogue official to peddle false information against the ANC and General Jeremy Vearey.

Dan Plato, by his conduct of leaking the contents of dubious and untested Affidavits in public, has clearly breached the obligations placed on him by the legislation that applies to the Office that he holds.

The ANC calls on the Police, the Hawks and the Public Protector to investigate:

[1] whether Dan Plato breached his Oath of Office and

[2] whether anyone should be prosecuted for, including but not limited to; committing perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury, criminal defamation and defeating the ends of justice'.

Issued by Rhoda Bazier on behalf of ANC Western Cape, 18 May 2016