MBOMBELA – Mr Jan Venter fears for his safety. That is the one and only allegation by him which has remained consistent in his public dealings with former employer, Dr Mathews Phosa, Mpumalanga premier Mr David Mabuza, the media, police and the court over the past two years.
This former house manager of Phosa has been in the middle of a legal battle between Phosa and Mabuza which has been dragging on since 2014. Trial in this R10 million defamation suit finally commenced this week in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and Venter was called to testify.
Read more: Jan Venter and Mathews Phosa
Venter has changed his version of the story three times, first siding with Mabuza, then with Phosa and then with Mabuza again.
The surfacing of the so-called spy report
Phosa and Mabuza have been hissing at each other in public since Mabuza announced his intention to sue Phosa in November 2014, after the latter gave the ANC leadership a report in September that year, alleging Mabuza was a spy. Phosa claims it was his duty to inform the party leadership of the accusations. Mabuza insists it is false and that Phosa has fabricated it.
Venter comes into the scene
He suddenly found himself the centre of media attention in February last year, when a sworn affidavit by him according to which Phosa had fabricated the report, became public. He then claimed that he had approached Mabuza’s office with the allegations that he had witnessed Phosa and businessman Mr Nick Elliot fabricate the report.
He told Lowvelder he had informed the premier because “he loved the ANC and hated a member being caused harm”. It was then that Phosa told the newspaper about the relationship between him and Venter which had soured after he found that Venter had allegedly stolen from him. He laid criminal charges of theft, fraud and liability against this former employee.
What he told the court this week
Venter said he had heard Mabuza’s name mentioned in snippets, and that the discussions between Phosa and Elliott had taken place behind close doors. He added that he had contacted Mabuza because Phosa was a vindictive person. He said that he told him about people being tortured by the Phosa camp. Venter also told the court he feared for his life after sharing the information with Mabuza.
He claimed that he couldn’t work and that the Mabuza camp helped him financially. He told Lowvelder it wasn’t a bribe.
Venter changes his story
He sang a different tune in October last year. They then came to an agreement according to which Phosa would withdraw the charges if Venter paid him back R10 000. They held a joint press conference in Johannesburg in October where Venter turned on Mabuza.
He told the press he had been part of a plot to discredit Phosa. He denied having heard conversations or witnessing Phosa plotting the spy report – and claimed Mabuza’s lawyer paid him to say it.
Venter swore a new affidavit, clearing Phosa of any involvement in creating the report which also stated that he never had any insight into documents or notes written by Phosa.
He told Lowvelder Phosa wanted him back as Mabuza would have a weak case without him. He said he agreed because he was afraid of facing the court case Phosa had brought against him and he had dropped them in exchange for his testimony against Mabuza.
What he told the court this week
He testified that Mabuza’s lawyer Mr Ian Small-Smith, paid him R15 000 per month for about eight months out of the goodness of this heart – after he had asked him for money.
Venter further claimed he was also tasked by Mabuza’s camp to bring them evidence that Phosa was funding the EFF. He told Lowvelder he met the party’s leader Mr Julius Malema and that he “was a very nice man”.
He told the court he couldn’t say in open court what Malema was supposed to have asked him to do as it had made him afraid, and he was allowed to attest to it in camera.
Venter changes his story, for a second time
In January this year, Venter claimed Phosa reneged on their agreement according to which he would find him a job. He toldLowvelder he had to beg Phosa for money to eat as he has relocated him to Gauteng in appreciation of what Venter was doing for them by agreeing to testify against Mabuza. Afterwards, Phosa reinstituted the criminal charges against him. Venter admitted to the newspaper in February that he had been unreliable in the past, but would tell the truth under oath.
What he told the court this week
Venter testified that he had mostly lied in the press briefing, saying he retracted any knowledge of the report out of fear, calling Phosa “dangerous.”
• The trial was set to continue after the newspaper had gone to print yesterday.
A source who worked for the police’s security branch in Mbombela at the time that Mabuza was supposed to be number PN485, said he
was absolutely convinced the report was not a product of the security police.
He said there were a number of aspects which pointed to this fact, including:
• The security police used a special front page containing the details of the compiler, and faithfulness thereof.
• The branch commander’s signature would also be on the front page
• The “spies” in the former Eastern Transvaal was coded as OTVL – not PN
• Security reports were also, without exception, written in Afrikaans
• A number of reports are contained in the one report
• The style and nuance in the report differs wildly from what the security branch used.
