As former City Press editor Vusi Mona's claims against Bulelani Ngcuka fell apart, one lawyer described him as a 'dead man walking'. S'thembiso Msomi was there to record the drama

CRUMBLING CASE The changing face of Vusi Mona as he fell apart Pictures SIMON MATHEBULA

Testimony by the Home Affairs Department on how National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was granted a passport despite being detained by the security police in 1981 is the only hope for Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik to back up claims that Ngcuka might have been an apartheid spy.

The Hefer commission, appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to probe the allegations that Ngcuka spied on his comrades in the 1980s and that he now abuses his power by persecuting ANC members who once investigated him, has set aside next Friday to hear Home Affairs' evidence.

This comes as Maharaj's and Shaik's allegations look increasingly weak. Each aspect of their case is being torn to shreds under cross-examination by Ngcuka's legal representative, Marumo Moerane, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna's lawyer, Norman Arendse, and the combative evidence leader, Kessie Naidu.

This week it was the turn of former City Press editor Vusi Mona to take the stand in support of Maharaj's charge that Ngcuka had abused his power by making "derogatory" remarks about Maharaj , Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Shaik's brother, Schabir, among others, at an off-the record meeting with editors in July.

But, as was the case with Maharaj and Shaik a week before, Mona soon found himself on the defensive and was not only forced to admit that he had omitted important comments made at the meeting, but also that the stories his newspaper ran alleging that Ngcuka might have been agent RS452 were "reckless".

On Thursday , under cross-examination by Naidu, Mona's case fell apart - prompting one of Ngcuka's representatives to call him a "dead man walking".

Earlier, Mona told the commission he believed "off-the-record" in journalism meant one could report the information without attributing it to the source.

But when asked by Naidu why Ngcuka asked the editors to put down their pens when he realised they were taking notes, Mona said, oddly, that taking notes would have resulted in comments being attributed to Ngcuka.

After a few exchanges with an agitated Naidu, Mona conceded that he had given the commission "a wrong reply".

Such admissions were later to become the hallmark of his exchange with Naidu as the Durban-based advocate forced him to accept that the stories run by City Press about Ngcuka being a possible spy contained some serious factual errors.

But what called Mona's testimony into question were the similarities between the notes he jotted down after the meeting and an article written by Business Day's David Gleason some weeks later.

Mona initially said that he did not give his "reconstructed notes" of the meeting to anyone, yet there are close similarities between his report, Gleason's article and a document "leaked" to City Press detailing what Ngcuka allegedly said at the off-the-record briefing.

He was later forced to admit that, among other people, he did share the information with a friend, Dominic Ntsele.

Mona's testimony had been that he was uncomfortable with what was said by Ngcuka at the off-the-record meeting and that he had not gone public for two months because he was soliciting various opinions on what he needed to do.

But Moerane told the commission that Mona, at the end of the confidential gathering, had told those present that it was "a good meeting" and that similar gatherings should be held in future. 

The Week In Quotes

"I apologise unconditionally." - Mo Shaik on his suggestion that Bulelani Ngcuka spied on assassinated anti-apartheid spy Griffiths Mxenge

"When Bulelani Ngcuka told you to stop writing, his purpose was that . . . the information he gave you should not be published. That is the only inference that can be drawn." - Kessie Naidu during questioning of former City Press editor Vusi Mona about an off-the-record briefing

"Correct." - Vusi Mona in response to the above question

"Mr Mona, do you know what the truth is? Do you know what the whole truth is?" - Judge Joos Hefer to Vusi Mona

"Please forgive me for laughing. I am not prejudging your evidence." - Kessie Naidu to Vusi Mona

"I want to apologise unreservedly to Ngcuka, his family and to the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions for the pain the story caused. I still regard him as a man who can do his work." - Vusi Mona

With acknowledgements to S'thembiso Msomi and the Sunday Times.