Johannesburg - The “academic thuggery” involving a payment of R12.5 million by ActionSA to political analyst and author Prince Mashele has given birth to a “corrupt and suspicious relationship” that seems to exist between the two political bedfellows.
This week, after many denials, Mashele confirmed that he had received R12.5m from Mashaba to fund Mashaba’s book titled “The Outsider: An Unauthorised Biography of Herman Mashaba”, which was funded by the very same ActionSA leader it sought to capture as an enigma of the country’s political landscape.
Brutus Malada, a political strategist and researcher and former ally of Mashele, has since accused his former friend of stealing his work, which formed part of the research and first draft of the now-recalled book.
Malada, speaking to the SABC, went further and characterised Mashele’s behaviour as “academic thuggery”.
“Prince owed the public to disclose his relationship with Mashaba as well as his involvement in ActionSA. Fred Khumalo called it what it is –that Prince is embedded.
“So, this leads to the fourth point that I wanted to make, which is about hypocrisy. You cannot criticise other intellectuals about them being in the pockets of politicians. You go and get money to do a book that is supposed to be independent, and then you don’t disclose about it," Malada said.
This week, ActionSA said a plan to finance the book was presented by Mashele to Mashaba in October 2018, but when it became clear that raising the funds would be challenging Mashaba agreed to provide the initial financing of R12.5m in his personal capacity.
Many have questioned this figure on the basis that it is a very expensive exercise due to the nature of the publishing business, which does not guarantee any meaningful return on his investment as the return is very low, if at all.
This has set tongues wagging and begs the question: Is there a corrupt relationship between Mashaba and Mashele? Or do these two figures know something many of us don’t know?
In a statement on Wednesday, Mashele acknowledged that he should not have stated that the book was “self-funded”.
“I would like to offer a sincere and unreserved apology for my part in the controversy that resulted in the withdrawal of my book, ‘The Outsider: The Unauthorised Biography of Herman Mashaba’.”
To further his lie before the apology, Mashele told eNCA host JJ Tabane that he had funded the book through consultation work, adding that Mashaba had no knowledge of the book until it was released.
However, on Wednesday, he said that the huge fee was part of the research cost that led to the production of the book, adding that his silence on the matter was due to a non-disclosure funding agreement with Mashaba.
“I offer my apology to Mr Mashaba, who has since been associated with the controversy due to no fault of his own.
“I admit that the answer I gave to Professor JJ Tabane, which stated that Mr Mashaba had no role in the funding of the book, was incorrect. I apologise to Professor Tabane and the public in this regard,” Mashele said in his statement.
The Star