By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula denies the party owes millions of rands for the supply of election banners ahead of the May 2019 general elections.
Mbalula addressed the media on Wednesday amid a legal dispute with a printing and marketing company Ezulweni Investments.
It was revealed last week that the ANC faced liquidation after it failed to pay its debt to Ezulweni for supplying election campaign material in 2019.
The company claims the ANC owes it more than R100 million for election banners.
In November, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Ezulweni Investments, which supplied the ANC with campaign material for the 2019 elections.
The party was ordered to pay over R100 million for the election banners.
Mbalula says there shouldn’t be any concerns about the future of the ANC.
“I can put my head on the block, and no one will liquidate the African National Congress. They are determined through this fraudulent behaviour, to basically even liquidate, or even make it a point that the ANC is declared insolvent, for a service they have never rendered.”
Mbalula adds that a forensic probe commissioned by the party – contains irrefutable proof of corruption on the part of Ezulweni Investments.
Mbalula The report provides incontrollable evidence of Ezulweni offering substantial bribes to the two staff members. These individuals, in turn, forged documents presented to Ezulweni falsely indicating that the ANC had engaged in their services.”
Ezulweni applied to seize assets worth more than R102m from the ANC after the party refused to pay, despite two judgments in the company’s favour — one handed down in September 2020 and an appeal heard by a full bench of the Johannesburg high court in June 2022.
The ANC’s fate lies with the Constitutional Court in its efforts to avoid liquidation to recover owed money.
Mbalula also said the ANC wants the directors and executives of the implicated banks on rand manipulation to face prosecution in their individual capacity and be held personally responsible for “the detriment they inflicted on our economy”.
He said this act is nothing short of a crime against the people of South Africa and that the fines the banks paid “pales in comparison to the damage wrought on our economy”. He added that “the full extent of this criminal manipulation of our currency, particularly its impact on the poorest among us, is yet to be fully realised and acknowledged”.
Mbalula further hailed Kopanong Local Municipality Mayor Xolani Tseletsele’s bright future in the party, just two weeks after his dramatic announcement of the mayor’s suspension.
He said the mayor would “undergo counselling and learn that one doesn’t do certain things”.
Tseletsele was suspended for threatening resident Kalebe Kalebe at his Jagersfontein home. The incident was caught on video and went viral.
Mbalula defended himself and the Free State ANC, saying the party “acted accordingly”.
“It does not mean he wouldn’t go back to work at any given time. We told him he would be held accountable.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of MYANC.