ActionSA has confirmed that it has initiated legal proceedings to probe the ANC’s settlement of the R102 million debt owed to KZN printing company Ezulweni Investments.
This comes after the party reached an out-of court settlement regarding the R102 million owed to the company for the 2019 elections campaign.
In 2018, the ruling party contracted the company to print their banners and other election material but failed to pay the company, resulting in a writ execution order, which almost saw the ANC part with some of its assets last year.
On Monday, ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont indicated that the party has initiated legal proceedings to obtain the R102 million debt settlement agreement entered into between the ANC and Ezulweni Investments.
This comes after a written request to the IEC Political Party Funding Unit to investigate this agreement for alleged breaches of the Act.
This arises from the funding disclosures on Thursday in which the ANC announced R10 million in donations in the quarter, in which they publicly communicated the settlement of their R102 million debt.
Beaumont said there is little likelihood of any debt settlement being lawful under the current circumstances as the ANC has been reportedly struggling with its finances, adding that interest on the debt must have been included in the settlement.
He added that the party has applied as per the Promotion of Access to Information Act in order to access the details of the settlement.
“ActionSA’s legal proceedings have started with an application to the ANC in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. We have no doubt that this will be ignored by the ANC, despite Ramaphosa responding on this issue in January this year by welcoming ActionSA to have access to the settlement agreement – an offer that has since been refused by the ANC treasurer-general,” he said.
Beaumont said the party will not rest until the matter is settled, though the ANC might resist its request to provide the settlement agreement.
“ActionSA will pursue this legal process as long as it takes because South Africans cannot simply be expected to have blind faith in the ANC’s promise that the settlement was legal. Six months ago, the ANC was unable to pay employees outside of their offices and, suddenly, in December this picture changes to a party able to settle nine-digit debts and host eight-digit stadium events. South Africans know the ANC better than to accept this at face value.
“This legal battle is necessary for the transparency of party funding to have any meaning. Currently, party funding debates in South Africa are dominated by political parties who ignore the provisions of party funding, given their propensity to commit the much more serious crime of corruption, obsessing about who legitimately and lawfully donates to political parties who comply with the Act.”
Last month, ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was not disturbed by ActionSA’s attempts to investigate the multimillion-rand debt settlement to Ezulwini Investment.
He said the four-year R102 million debt was settled through the treasurer-general’s office.
“The settlement is fairly straightforward. Whoever wants to look at that may do so if they do wish; it’s a settlement of the debt that the ANC had,” he said.
The Star