After nearly two years of challenging the ANC’s debt settlement agreement with Ezulweni Investments, ActionSA has now obtained the confidential agreement and can confirm that it breaches the provisions of the Political Party Funding Act.
Through court papers filed by the ANC against Ezulweni Investments, the debt settlement agreement has now entered the public domain (accessible here), despite the ANC’s earlier refusal to disclose it. The agreement reveals that the ANC’s R150 million debt was effectively settled through an inflated order of election materials for its 2024 campaign.
The ANC placed an order valued at R190 million to write off the historic debt, for goods independently valued at only R125 million, effectively settling a R150 million debt with R65 million in actual value. In terms of the Political Party Funding Act, this constitutes a donation-in-kind of approximately R85 million at the time of signing, far exceeding the annual limit of R15 million for any single donor.
This revelation confirms that the debt settlement agreement itself is unlawful in terms of the Political Party Funding Act, contrary to the public statements made by the President of the ANC and the IEC.
Access to this settlement agreement follows a protracted campaign by ActionSA to challenge the legality of the ANC’s R150 million debt settlement with Ezulweni Investments, announced in December 2023, as well as the IEC’s refusal to investigate the matter. ActionSA has consistently maintained that the agreement was bound to breach the provisions of the Political Party Funding Act, given that the ANC at the time was unable to pay the salaries of striking workers and had not declared donations remotely sufficient to cover the settlement.
With this information now in the public domain, ActionSA will again write to the IEC, which seemingly failed to obtain or review the agreement before hastily dismissing the need for an investigation. ActionSA will stay its current litigation with the IEC for 30 days, during which it will submit the debt settlement agreement to the IEC and make the case for a formal declaration that the agreement constitutes an unlawful violation of the Political Party Funding Act.
ActionSA maintains that the Political Party Funding Act has become laughable in the face of political parties openly disregarding its provisions while the IEC takes no action to investigate serious alleged breaches. In the most recent national elections, parties such as MK declared donations of only R300 000, despite having no access to state funding at the time and running campaigns that clearly cost hundreds of millions.
As long as the IEC continues to wash its hands of its legally defined responsibilities, the Political Party Funding Act will remain laughable, serving only as an obstacle for those parties that seek to comply with its legal requirements, while others violate its provisions with impunity.
ANC Court Papers Admit Unlawful Deal To Pay Ezulweni Investments Debt
After nearly two years of challenging the ANC’s debt settlement agreement with Ezulweni Investments, ActionSA has now obtained the confidential agreement and can confirm that it breaches the provisions of the Political Party Funding Act.
Through court papers filed by the ANC against Ezulweni Investments, the debt settlement agreement has now entered the public domain (accessible here), despite the ANC’s earlier refusal to disclose it. The agreement reveals that the ANC’s R150 million debt was effectively settled through an inflated order of election materials for its 2024 campaign.
The ANC placed an order valued at R190 million to write off the historic debt, for goods independently valued at only R125 million, effectively settling a R150 million debt with R65 million in actual value. In terms of the Political Party Funding Act, this constitutes a donation-in-kind of approximately R85 million at the time of signing, far exceeding the annual limit of R15 million for any single donor.
This revelation confirms that the debt settlement agreement itself is unlawful in terms of the Political Party Funding Act, contrary to the public statements made by the President of the ANC and the IEC.
Access to this settlement agreement follows a protracted campaign by ActionSA to challenge the legality of the ANC’s R150 million debt settlement with Ezulweni Investments, announced in December 2023, as well as the IEC’s refusal to investigate the matter. ActionSA has consistently maintained that the agreement was bound to breach the provisions of the Political Party Funding Act, given that the ANC at the time was unable to pay the salaries of striking workers and had not declared donations remotely sufficient to cover the settlement.
With this information now in the public domain, ActionSA will again write to the IEC, which seemingly failed to obtain or review the agreement before hastily dismissing the need for an investigation. ActionSA will stay its current litigation with the IEC for 30 days, during which it will submit the debt settlement agreement to the IEC and make the case for a formal declaration that the agreement constitutes an unlawful violation of the Political Party Funding Act.
ActionSA maintains that the Political Party Funding Act has become laughable in the face of political parties openly disregarding its provisions while the IEC takes no action to investigate serious alleged breaches. In the most recent national elections, parties such as MK declared donations of only R300 000, despite having no access to state funding at the time and running campaigns that clearly cost hundreds of millions.
As long as the IEC continues to wash its hands of its legally defined responsibilities, the Political Party Funding Act will remain laughable, serving only as an obstacle for those parties that seek to comply with its legal requirements, while others violate its provisions with impunity.