Following the IEC's decision to reverse their earlier position on the ANC and Ezulweni matter saying that there is no prima facie case to investigate, ActionSA has decided to legally obtain the record of decision from the commission to assess the rationality of their decision. IEC took the ANC and several political parties to court for failing to submit audited financial statements.
SETTLEMENT NOT LAWFUL
ActionSA has been demanding that the IEC investigate the matter following a two line statement issued by the ANC in December 2023 that the party had settled the debt with Ezulweni Investments. Earlier last year, the Office of the Sheriff raided Luthuli House, the party's headquarters in Johannesburg
to settle the R102m debt they owed Ezulwini Investments for election posters. In December, the party said it had reached an out of court settlement with Ezulweni Investments. ActionSA chairperson, Michael Beaumont, said this is purely on the basis that there is no way the settlement can be lawful . "A market-related interest from 2019 would have to have been levied, making the likely debt in excess of R150 million. Also the settlement could not legally be discounted by more than R15m and the ANC only had R10 million in disclosures in the quarter under question in which the settlement was concluded and had been in financial distress unable to pay salaries for striking workers," said Beaumont. He added that any donor paying an account more than R100k would have to be declared as donation in kind, no such declaration was forthcoming. "The settlement would require a minimum of 10 donors to settle account with disclosures and no such disclosures were made," said Beaumont.
ON THEIR NECKS
Beaumont said it is necessary to observe that ActionSA has discovered that Ezulweni Investments is a registered vendor to at least one municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, where it has been awarded tenders. "A real concern exists that the real terms of this debt settlement may well involve South Africans footing the bill for this settlement. ActionSA's efforts to engage the IEC to investigate this matter eventually led to correspondence from the IEC in March 2024 confirming that they were handling the matter in terms of the Act and no further communication has been forthcoming. This is despite regular attempts from ActionSA to gain progress reports head of a 29 May election in which South Africans had the right to know the full picture of party funding when they voted." ActionSA's legal team will now proceed to initiate a two-part legal action: "Firstly, to obtain the record of decision from the IEC to assess the rationality of their decision. Secondly, if necessary, to challenge the rationality of the decision to decline the investigation.
