ANCYL to lay criminal charge against IFP over funding request
15 March 2017
Durban - The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in KwaZulu-Natal will lay a charge of corruption against Inkatha Freedom Party officials allegedly involved in an attempt to get a donation from the Nongoma Local Municipality ahead of the Pongola by-elections.
It is against the Municipal Finance Management Act for municipalities to make donations or other contributions to political parties.
ANCYL provincial spokesperson Mandla Shange told News24 on Wednesday that the league would approach the police before the by-election on March 29.
"Stealing money is a criminal offence, regardless of who commits the crime. We will lay the charge before the by-election date," said Shange.
In a letter that News24 has seen, the IFP requests the municipality to provide it with 500 T-shirts, two JoJo tanks, six soccer kits, two sewing machines, barbed wire and 100 food parcels. The letter is dated January 23 and is addressed to the mayor and caucus of the Nongoma municipality.
The ANCYL said the request for political funding was an abuse of power.
"The municipality that has thus far failed to deliver services to the people is being instructed to fund a desperate attempt to cling on to power. We believe that this amounts to a direct abuse of power and misuse of state resources," it said.
Allegations denied
The league said it would also write to the office of the Public Protector to ask Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane to investigate whether the IFP had ever received funding of this nature from the municipality.
IFP's Pongola constituency election committee chairperson NE Buthelezi, who allegedly sent the letter, denied the allegations and declined to comment further.
"That's not true. I'm not authorised to speak to the media," he said, before hanging up.
Nongoma municipality spokesperson Lungani Buthelezi said they had not received the letter.
"I can confirm that we did not receive the alleged letter. I've just checked with our records [department]," he said.
He said letters that were received by the municipality were stamped and dated by the records department to confirm receipt.
The by-election follows the death of a Ward 71 councillor.
