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Something had to be done to create an impression that I’ve lost touch with reality so that I don’t get identified as a reliable witness because I’m the only person who could have sent all those people to prison or whoever who is alleged to have created problems. I mean, I have all the information of shenanigans in Mbombela such as monies being paid before the stadium was built. – Lassy Chiwayo

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Senior politicians and law enforcement agencies missed an opportunity to crack political killings in Mpumalanga when they allegedly dismissed a whistleblower as a lunatic.

Long-serving ANC member, former Consulate-General in Shanghai (China) and City of Mbombela mayor, Lassy Chiwayo, said that instead of being listened to, he was forced to report at Military 1 Hospital in Pretoria in 2011.

Then, Chiwayo said, a misinformation campaign alleging that he had gone mad was launched. He told The People’s Eye Podcast that he had eight boxes, full of documents detailing corruption that took place in the Mbombela World Cup Stadium stadium. 

The province was at that time considered a tinderbox when high-profile politicians and civil servants were assassinated one after the other in 2009, 2010 and 2011 for exposing corruption or contesting positions.

WATCH: How I was poisoned for exposing corruption in Mbombela stadium

These are the assassination incidents:

·      Former City of Mbombela speaker, Jimmy Mohlala, was fatally shot in 2009 in his house in KaNyamazane outside Mbombela after raising concerns about massive corruption related to tenders for the construction of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

·      In 2010, Department of Culture, Sport, Arts and Recreation spokesperson, Sammy Mpatlanyane, was shot in his second-floor bedroom at his home in Stonehenge. Mpatlanyane had alleged that his signature was forged for payment of a theatre play when he was in Germany.

·      The following year, ANC chief whip in Ehlanzeni District Municipality Johan Ndlovu was shot and killed outside Bushbuckridge. Ndlovu was a contender for the mayorship of the district.

WRONG PEOPLE ARRESTED

No one has ever been successfully prosecuted for Mohlala and Mpatlanyane’s killings.

In Mohlala’s case – a 59-year-old hospital cleaner, her son and two cops were arrested late in 2011 on allegations contained in an affidavit deposed by the cleaner’s other son who extensively cited use of muti by the accuseds.

They were all acquitted in 2012 due to lack of evidence and internal police documents indicated that a deputy provincial commissioner warned that the cops should not be suspended nor arrested as there was no shred of evidence linking them to the murder.

These arrests were considered a staged cover-up and a decoy.

Chiwayo said that he had all the information to resolve Mohlala’s murder, but former president Jacob Zuma and then national police commissioner, Bheki Cele, ignored him.

Attempts to get comment from both Zuma and Cele proved futile.

He said that some time in 2011 he “forced” an appointment to meet Zuma at Mahlamba Ndlovu, and along the way he decided to rather meet him at OR Tambo Presidential Guest House.

Chiwayo said that he had requested protection from the police and State Security Agency when he went to meet Zuma. He met Zuma for four hours and made his presentation about the corruption at Mbombela municipality that probably led to Mohlala’s killing.

The following day, he had to meet him again at the guest house but a contingent of about 30 police officers arrived.

WATCH (PART2): How I was poisoned for exposing Mbombela stadium corruption

BEING FORCED TO REPORT AT HOSPITAL

“After a while, I was told I must not leave but go to 1Military Hospital. The head of the hospital (Dr Shabalala) and then ANC spokesperson (the late) Jackson Mthembu came in and said there’s a request from the president for me to go to 1Mil,” he said.

“I told them I had just met the president for four hours and gave him what I had to give him. I saw no rationale to go to 1Mil. For all I care I said there’s no background I know about the president that would make him diagnose me.”

Chiwayo said that Mthembu told him that Zuma would like to speak to him again after being admitted and discharged at 1Military Hospital.

“It’s a pity ubabu (Mr) Mthembu is not here to speak for himself. He said my future would be bright, everything had been discussed. I told him I don’t bargain on corpses. You know that Jimmy Mohlala has died,” said Chiwayo.

Chiwayo said that Mthembu threatened that he would leave him if he did not oblige. Mthembu then left him in the hands of the doctor, and the police.

“The doctor was mixing lead poison, my brother. Go and read what lead does. When I asked him if he was aware that he was a doctor, he said he was [carrying out] an instruction from above. He was speaking to Bheki Cele as I was there.”

The next thing, Chiwayo said, he woke up at the 1Military Hospital. Chiwayo said that a soldier who was guarding him, told him that members of the army, police and a private security company were deployed to make sure he did not escape.

He then made means to make calls to assure his staff and inquisitive journalists that he was fine and not mad.

WALKING NAKED IN SHANGHAI

Soon after this incident, Zuma deployed Chiwayo to Shanghai as a diplomat. While there, allegations that Chiwayo walked naked on the streets of Shanghai surfaced and were published widely in many countries.

Chiwayo said this was still part of the campaign to portray him as a madman so that the Mbombela corruption and Mohlala’s murder cases could not go further.

Chiwayo said the false story was leaked from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

“They said I was walking naked on the streets and there are cameras everywhere. It was the end of October in China and winter. Temperatures drop to negative six degree celsius. If indeed, I walked naked, they would have found a frozen black statue, and I could not survive that temperature in my condition.”

Chiwayo said that when these allegations were spread and published in March 2013, he had voluntarily left China in October the previous year due to “paranoia” of still being followed.

“I was never recalled from China. I came back on my own volition,” he said.

Chiwayo said that he had to be besmirched to come across as an unreliable witness or not to be considered at all.

“Something had to be done to create an impression that I’ve lost touch with reality so that I don’t get identified as a reliable witness because I’m the only person who could have sent all those people to prison or whoever who is alleged to have created problems. I mean, I have all the information of shenanigans in Mbombela such as monies being paid before the stadium was built,” he said.

* This story has been updated