ActionSA declared in a media conference that it is taking the IEC to court for failing to probe the ANC’s Ezulweni Investments debt settlement, and that it has filed complaints with the IEC against the EFF and MK Party for failing to fully disclose their election funding. Image: @Action4SA shared via X
(The Post News)- Action for South Africa (ActionSA) has announced that it will be taking legal action against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for neglecting to probe the African National Congress (ANC) over a debt settlement of more than R100m with Ezulweni Investments.
When Ezulweni threatened to liquidate the ANC a year ago to recover money owing to it for services done during the 2019 elections, the ANC negotiated for an out-of-court settlement with Ezulweni in December of last year. The ANC later declared that the debt had been cleared.
According to ActionSA, the ANC has not confirmed where it acquired the money to cover the debt, as required by the Party Fundi Act.
During a media briefing conducted by ActionSA, Michael Beaumont, the party’s national chairperson, argued that as the ruling party, the ANC had a responsibility to be truthful, noting that under the Party Funding Act, any donor paying more than R100 million directly to the service provider to settle the debt would have had to record it as a donation in kind.
However, no such disclosures were made throughout the quarter, either before or after.The Party Funding Act requires parties to be transparent, and Beaumont has accused the ANC of failing to adhere to the laws of this Act.
He also argued that the IEC is not an investigative organization, and so it is unable to effectively verify whether donations and parties that do not declare.According to Beaumont, the IEC stated in a letter that it is not investigating this issue since there is no prima facie evidence that the debt settlement arrangement between the ANC and Ezulweni Investments was corrupt.
The legal team of ActionSA therefore intends to launch a two-part legal action: first obtaining the IEC’s decision record to analyze the reason for their decision, and a second, to contest the rationality of the decision if needed.
Furthermore, ActionSA has also filed complaints with the IEC against the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto WeSizwe Party for failing to disclose all their electoral funds. The party contends that these political parties’ disclosures are inconsistent with their campaign spending.
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