Witness tells Zondo commission: MK vets were paid more than R1m by SSA to occupy Luthuli House

The ANC's headquarters at Luthuli House. Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

The ANC's headquarters at Luthuli House. Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Published May 14, 2021

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Johannesburg - An employee of the State Security Agency (SSA), whose identity is hidden, has revealed how over R1 million was taken from SSA and used to pay MK Veterans to #OccupyLuthuliHouse.

The witness, only identifying herself as *Dorothy, is the first of four people giving state security-related evidence at the Zondo Commission into Allegations of State Capture on Friday.

Dorothy, testifying from an undisclosed location, told the commission that the #OccupyLuthuliHouse was created by certain individuals to occupy the ANC headquarters when then president Jacob Zuma and his then deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, attended the office for their weekly meeting in December 2016.

Dorothy said that the R1 850 000 was used to cover stipends, meals, accommodation and transport for the MK Veterans. She said this payment was instructed by Thulani Dlomo - the then director of special operations at the spy agency.

Dlomo has been implicated by Dorothy in the looting of the SSA.

She told the commission that Dlomo also instructed her to use R1m from the SSA to cover costs for MK Veterans to assist with security and monitor potential disruption at an ANC rally in Rustenburg on January 8, 2016.

She said this money was used to transport, accommodate and feed the MK Veterans during the event.

When evidence-leader advocate Paul Pretorius asked why the SAPS was not instructed to offer security and monitoring instead of MK veterans, Dorothy said Dlomo would be better placed to answer, as it was his instruction.

Earlier, Dorothy read an opening statement to commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, saying that she had compromised her personal life and "suffered a great deal" when carrying out her duties.

"I carried out every single one of my duties on a need-to-know basis, careful to never cross lines or go beyond my scope of work, which was the doctrine that I understood from day one," she told Zondo.

The Inquiry continues.

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