By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) has dismissed media reports premised on purportedly leaked documents, which advance insinuations that the party has been subject to, or complicit in, foreign influence campaigns, including allegations of involvement with Russian or Iranian state actors.
According to the media reports the secret meetings were held between specialists from “The Company”, a network run by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and leaders of the ANC.
The meeting, along with leaked data initially received by the pan-African newspaper The Continent and shared with Forbidden Stories, revealed much more direct support delivered outside diplomatic channels.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party “rejects these allegations in the strongest terms” following claims based on purported leaked documents that it had links to foreign actors, including Russia and Iran.
Bhengu stated there has been no collaboration, coordination or engagement with any foreign intelligence service, including those of the Russian Federation or the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“There has equally been no external influence, neither financial, strategic nor political, on the ANC’s internal democratic processes or electoral outcomes,” said Bhengu.
She acknowledged the party’s history of international engagement but rejected any suggestion that such relations amount to undue influence.
Bhengu said that ANC’s global ties are rooted in “anti-imperialism, mutual respect and sovereign equality of nations,” adding that engagement with “academics, journalists, diplomats and policy institutions” is both legitimate and necessary in a democracy.
“To distort such engagements into allegations of collusion is not only intellectually dishonest but reflects a deliberate attempt to weaponise misinformation in pursuit of narrow political ends,” she retorted.
The links between Russia and the ANC, an anti-apartheid movement and member of the Socialist International, date back to the days of the Soviet Union. Also Iran’s official relationship goes back to the dawn of democracy.