African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is adamant the governing party doesn’t owe R102 million to a KwaZulu-Natal branding company for election material despite a court order attaching the party’s assets to recoup the funds.
Speaking at a media briefing at Luthuli House on Wednesday, Mbalula said he had not seen the writ of execution issued against the ANC.
Watch Fikile Mbalula saying the ANC does not owe R102 million
ANC assets
The order by the Gauteng High Court ordered the “execution of movable goods of the debtor, African National Congress, at Luthuli House to cause the realisation of by public auction of R102 465 000 together with the interests of 10.25% per annum from 9 May 2019 to 31 August 2020”.
The ruling comes four years after KwaZulu-Natal-based marketing company saying Ezulweni Investments scored a R102 million contract to supply election posters and banners for the ANC.
While the ANC lost the matter in 2020 and 2022, when the court ruled in Ezulweni’s favour, the party argued that it did not have an agreement with the branding company and staffers involved in the deal had done so without the party’s knowledge.
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Criminal case
While Mbalula said the ANC planned to open a criminal case and appeal the judgment, the party has yet to file papers and the deadline has since lapsed.
He said it was a huge concern for the ANC that the court had ruled against the party and gave Ezulweni a “possibility that they have a case of R102 million against the party”.
“This is fraud to us. It’s a fraudulent matter and we will open a case with law enforcement and this matter should be investigated. We have taken steps to deal with the matter.”
ANC doesn’t owe R102 million
“How could we give one person a campaign of R102 million for elections for things we have not seen? Our campaign should have been ‘wow’ if we spent R102 million on billboards or anything of that sought. We are struggling. Where would we get R102 million?” Mbalula asked.
Mbalula said the case is a “disaster”.
“It is a disaster that you can get people coming together and using the law to trick the ANC. It is very clear that they couldn’t do this thing alone. It was clearly done in collusion with our staff,” Mbalula said.
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