Did the DTI give money to an ANC front?
7 December 2016
The DTI’s adjustment budget contains a R200 000 payment to an organisation called the Progressive Youth in Business, a group which is housed at Luthuli House in the Treasurer General’s office, and which is openly an ANC affiliated group. (See for example their website, www.ancpyb.org ). Did the ANC PYB receive this money? That is the simple, straightforward question that the DTI refuses to answer directly.
In a reply to a Parliamentary question about this payment, Minister Rob Davies makes no reference to the ANC PYB, saying that a lesser payment was made to a company called Regoapele Capital. This company is publicly linked to the ANC PYB.
The Minister’s reply is contradicted by a note from the National Treasury which says that the payment was indeed made to the PYB, and it is contradicted by the Adjustment Budget itself, which lists the ANC PYB as the beneficiary of the payment. The Minister’s evasiveness, and refusal to offer a full and comprehensive explanation of the differing information, leaves the impression that someone is being dishonest. Either the Minister is being misled by his own Department, or he is not being honest with me.
It is obviously a cause for serious concern that public funds, no matter how small the amount, may have been directed to the ANC. In a statement this morning, Minister Davies called these claims “outrageous”. If they are, he should provide a full explanation of the payment and the matter will be closed. If he will not do that, then we will continue to pursue this until we find the truth.