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Oupa Brown Mogotsi has been chastised at the Justice Madlanga Commission for lying under oath and failure to back up his claims with concrete proof especially with claims he made about CIA spy links on the AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and KZN Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

The rebuke started with evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson, who described Mogotsi as a ‘professional liar who lies for a living and even lies under oath’. Chaskalson put it to Mogotsi he had lied under oath when he claimed that tenderpreneur Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala had paid bribes to KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and National Commissioner Fannie Masemola were false and amounted to a deliberate attempt of misdirection of this commission.

“I also put it to you that allegations of a spy agent of the CIA leveled against Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi and AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini were also lies delivered under oath and done purely to misdirect this commission from the real issues at hand. You claimed that you followed ‘Cat’ Matala to KZN to the home of Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi without ‘Cat’ Matlala’s knowledge but you also failed to produce evidence to back up your claims and you came back empty handed. This is all an attempt to mislead this commission under oath,” Chaskalson said.

At this juncture, Justice Madlanga also came into the fray and questioned Mogotsi whether he was aware what an oath was and whether it was binding in his conscience, to which Mogotsi retorted; ‘Commissioners, I mentioned that sometimes in my profession you have to lie when you are searching for the truth’. “But you knew that you were coming here to tell us nothing but the truth and you deliberately lied under oath,” Justice Madlanga further grilled Mogotsi, to which he simply replied ‘yes’.

Chaskalson further told Mogotsi that he had lied about his birthdate under oath when it became apparent that he had been recruited to uMkhonto we Sizwe at age 13 as per his ID book. Mogotsi then claimed that his birthdate on the ID book was erroneously written by Home Affairs and he had tried on numerous occasions to get it rectified without success. He claimed he was born in 1977 and not 1979 as stipulated in his ID book.

Chaskalson further told Mogotsi that allegations of money being paid to former Police Minister Bheki Cele could well be another lie on your part. “I am saying so because you could not produce evidence to that effect and so what you are telling us is hearsay for as long as you don’t have the evidence to back up your claims,” Chaskalson added.

“Yes commissioners, I may not have the evidence for you, but someone can come here and back me up,” Mogotsi said. “For as long as that person comes up with evidence to back those claims and not hearsay like you have done,” retorted Chaskalson.

Mogotsi also admitted to lying to ‘Cat’ Matlala that he was going to arrange for him to meet another businessman in the same field as him so they could exchange notes. “I did this just to paint a picture that I could get things done for and he would trust me even further. It was the same thing when I told him I could arrange for him to meet the [now suspended] Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. I wanted him to see that I can get things done and he will trust me further,” Mogotsi said.

The cross-examination continues at the Justice Madlanga Commission at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College.