UDM welcomes Mthunzi Mdwaba in its ranks, calls criticism of him ‘high-level gossip’
UDM President Bantu Holomisa said the party is expecting a lot of contributions from the controversial businessman related to labour and socioeconomic issues facing the country.
Mthunzi Mdwaba. Picture: X/Tzoro1
JOHANNESBURG - The United Democratic Movement (UDM) welcomed controversial businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba to its ranks, with its president, Bantu Holomisa, dismissing criticism against him as nothing more than gossip.
Holomisa said the UDM was expecting a lot of contributions from Mdwaba in relation to labour and socioeconomic issues facing the country.
In December, the High Court in Johannesburg found Mdwaba guilty of making defamatory and false statements about Minister of Finance Enoch Gondgwana over allegations that he was part of a scheme to solicit a R500 million bribe from him.
Mdwaba is facing a similar suit from Minister of Labour Thulas Nxesi, while the African National Congress’s (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula opened a case against him after also implicating the pair in the bribery allegations.
Holomisa said people were allowed to have their opinions.
"Mdwaba is not in court, he has not been arrested, he has not been accused of anything, so I cannot be involved in high-level gossip. We want the other side of him. There is this gossip side - we don’t have any idea of how one can handle that. He has not killed anybody; he has not stolen any government money."