ANC rejects deceitful allegations of vote buying
The ANC Western Cape outright rejects fabricated allegations spread by the Sunday Times today in its main front page story intimating the involvement of targeted leaders in actions deliberately aimed to taint those ANC leaders in defamatory and slanderous ways (see report)..
The false allegations are just that: unfounded allegations by dubious sources. It is aimed at drawing the ANC into a so-called scandal that does not exist. The ANC never offered cash to anyone in exchange for their votes.
These claims are not new as it was published before and emphatically refuted. Yet, this discredited story by people with dark ulterior motives are hashed up as new and newsworthy as part of a smear campaign against the ANC and certain leaders.
All allegations are just the latest in a litany of examples of various political smear campaigns based upon spurious and malicious lies and which are deliberately designed to once again discredit and taint the good name and reputation of the leadership of the ANC and in particular provincial chairperson. The overarching purpose is part of the broader strategy of the opposition forces to build the fabricated narrative in the mind-sets of ordinary South Africans that the ANC in general and its leadership in particular is corrupt.
The ANC also notes the timing of these allegations, i.e. just after the ANC held its most successful event in the history of the Western Cape on 10 January 2015 and as we prepare for a Provincial Elective Conference. Whilst the ANC is disappointed by the nefarious and spurious allegations it is not surprised given its timing.
It is a known fact that whenever the ANC leadership are united and begin to prepare for elective conferences the media will always be used to attack the leadership through malicious and false allegations in order to divide the ANC and do the dirty work of those that force dark divisions for selfish purposes. Whilst the ANC cannot take any action against opposition parties for their gutter political tactics to smear its good name it will take action against those disgruntled ANC members and wedge drivers for working with the opposition in the hope that they can divide the ANC leadership and movement.
ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "Neither the ANC nor I in my capacity as chairperson and/or as individual made any promise and/or agreement to pay any minstrel body and/or member of the Cape Minstrels in order to vote for the ANC. The ANC categorically denies the malicious allegations.
"The ANC is unapologetic in its decision to meet with and assist the leadership bodies of the Cape minstrels in whichever way possible, if requested. It was taken because the ANC regards the Cape minstrels as an extremely important historical and cultural practise and priority for the large majority of the coloured working class and poor communities of this province. The ANC also recognises and supports this cultural practise given its historical roots as defiance demonstration against our colonial and slave history in this province.
"The ANC met on numerous occasions with all the various Cape minstrel bodies over the past few years. These meetings were all on the request of the said bodies who were in fact asking our assistance as they were frustrated with the manner in which the DA run Cape Town was trying to take control of the event, effectively reducing funding and disempower its leadership. They all consistently complained that the city was insensitive, paternalistic, dictatorial, disempowering and racist to the Cape minstrel culture.
"In these meetings the ANC advised all the various bodies and leadership that they need not be entirely dependent on funding from Cape Town and that they should become self-sustainable. All government spheres, agencies and benefactors in the cultural environment have to ensure that this heritage legacy is protected.
"It full well knew that Ms Shaheeda Thole was linked directly to the DA at the time she approached the ANC and that Thole of the Cape Minstrels District Board (CMDB) was at that time seemingly a disgruntled DA activist also raising the same frustrations of how her party the DA and the DA run city mistreated her. The irony is that she in the meeting complained that she met Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille a few times and that De Lille requested money for the DA from Thole. She also raised issues about the character of the mayor in some of these meetings with us. As a leader I requested her not to draw in her old political DA in-fights into our discussions.
"The so-called minutes of that meeting are not a true reflection of what was discussed. As mentioned before the ANC and I in particular categorically deny making commitments and guarantees that the ANC would get her the funding and or pay her particularly for ANC votes and or campaigning. We also did not organise and/or give money to the other two minstrels organisations or demanded that they work and/or campaign for the ANC as a quid pro quo. In other words we categorically deny the false allegation of vote buying.
"We however have reason to believe that Thole in fact made these allegations intentionally as she may have been unsuccessful in her own applications and therefore is disgruntled. We furthermore know that she has since also joined another political party (EFF) and that she is being used by both of them (EFF & DA) together with some disgruntled ANC members to slanderously and intentionally in a defamatory manner smear our (leadership's) good name," Fransman added.
Statement issued by Marius Fransman, ANC Western Cape leader, February 1 2015
Text of the response to questions from Sunday Times by Marius Fransman, ANC Western Cape leader, January 30 2015:
Response to Sunday Times - 30 Jan 2015 - Cape Minstrels
MARIUS FRANSMAN
As the ANC leadership and provincial chairperson of the Western Cape I wish to put on record the following:
Neither the ANC nor I in my capacity as chairperson and/or in my individual capacity made any promises and/or agreements to pay any minstrel body and/or member of the Cape Minstrels in order to vote for the ANC (see Sunday Times report).
We therefore categorically deny these malicious allegations.
However as the ANC we are unapologetic in our decision to meet with and assist the leadership bodies of the Cape Minstrels in whichever way possible. As the leadership of the ANC we took a conscious decision to assist all the Cape Minstrels in the Western Cape if requested.
This decision was taken because we regard the Cape Minstrels as an extremely important historical and cultural practise and priority for the large majority of the coloured working class and poor communities of this province. We also recognise and support this cultural practise given its historical roots as a practise of defiance against our colonial and slave history in this province.
Noting the above we have met on numerous occasions with all the various Cape minstrel bodies over the past few years. These meetings were all on the request of the said bodies who were in fact asking our assistance as they were frustrated with the manner in which the DA run city of Cape Town was trying to take control of the event, effectively reducing funding and disempower its leadership. They all consistently complained that the city was insensitive, paternalistic, dictatorial, disempowering and racist to the Cape minstrels culture.
In these meetings we advised all the various bodies and leadership that they need not be entirely dependent on funding from Cape Town and that they should become self-sustainable. All government spheres, agencies and benefactors in the cultural environment have to ensure that this heritage legacy is protected.
The meeting of the 19 February 2014 which your article is specifically referring to took place in this context where one Ms Shaheeda Thole requested such a meeting seeking our assistance. As the ANC we agreed to attend and listen to Thole's grievances and requests. We knew full well that her organisation was linked directly to the DA at the time and that Thole of the Cape Minstrels District Board (CMDB) was at that time seemingly a disgruntled DA activist also raising the same frustrations of how her party the DA and the DA run city mistreated her.
The irony is that she in the meeting complained that she met Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille a few times and that De Lille requested money for the DA from Thole. She also raised issues about the character of the mayor in some of these meetings with us. As a leader I requested her not to draw in her old political DA in-fights into our discussions.
The so-called minutes of the said meeting is not a true reflection of what was discussed. As mentioned before we as the ANC and I in particular categorically deny making commitments and guarantees that the ANC would get her the funding and or pay her particularly for ANC votes and or campaigning. We deny organising and/or giving money to the other two minstrels organisations or demanded that they work and/or campaign for the ANC as a quid pro quo. In other words we categorically deny the false allegation of vote buying.
We do however have reason to believe that Thole in fact made these allegations intentionally as she may have been unsuccessful in her own applications and therefore is now disgruntled. We furthermore know that she has since also joined another political party (EFF) and that she is being used by both of them (EFF & DA) together with some disgruntled ANC members to slanderously and intentionally in a defamatory manner smear our (leadership's) good name.
In respect of Paradise Park - This is a well-known and documented matter of a community in despair. The ANC intervened, interacted and supported the community, as the ANC works with all communities. No votes were bought.
These forgotten residents were neglected by the DA who runs the municipality and the province. It is untrue that they voted ANC as the results clearly show this is a DA area. It is a shame that the DA treats those people in such a disdainful way.
It would be even more interesting to see what the provincial housing rental tribunal will find in this matter.
In conclusion we note that all these allegations are just the latest in a litany of examples of political smear campaigns based upon spurious and malicious lies and which are deliberately designed to once again discredit and taint the good name and reputation of the leadership of the ANC and myself in particular as the provincial chairperson. The overarching purpose is part of the broader strategy of the opposition forces to build the fabricated narrative in the mind-sets of ordinary South Africans that the ANC in general and its leadership in particular is corrupt.
We also note the timing of these allegations, i.e. just after the ANC held its most successful event in the history of the Western Cape on 10 January 2015 and as we prepare for a provincial elective conference. Whilst we are disappointed by the nefarious and spurious allegations we are not surprised given its timing.
It is a known fact that whenever the ANC leadership are united and begin to prepare for elective conferences the media will always be used to attack the leadership through malicious and false allegations in order to divide the ANC and do the dirty work of those that force dark divisions for selfish purposes. Whilst we cannot take any action against those opposition parties for their gutter political tactics to smear our good name we will take action against those disgruntled ANC members and wedge drivers for working with the opposition in the hope that they can divide our leadership and movement.
Source: www.timeslive.co.za (transcribed from PDF)
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