ActionSA accepts Ramaphosa’s offer, writes to ANC Treasurer to get details of Ezulweni Investments deal

11 January 2024

ActionSA takes note of the contradiction between the ANC Spokesperson, Ms Bhengu-Motsiri, and ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in media reports yesterday responding to ActionSA’s call for the IEC to investigate the terms of the settlement agreement with Ezulweni Investments.

While the ANC Spokesperson stated that no South African is entitled to the information behind the settlement deal, ActionSA welcomes the offer made by President Ramaphosa for the ANC Treasurer-General to make available the details of the settlement to any interested parties. ActionSA has, accordingly, written to ANC Treasurer-General, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, to make arrangements for the provision of this information.

The likelihood is that the deal to settle the R102 million Ezulweni debt was at minimum unlawful and, possibly, illegal. It is worth noting that media reports arising from Ezulweni’s attachment orders earlier in December 2023 found that the party had a total of less than R60 000 in its bank accounts.

For the R102 million debt to have been settled in terms of the Party Funding Act, Ezulweni Investments could not have lawfully accepted a discount on settlement greater than R15 million given that such a discount would be defined as a donation-in-kind by the Party Funding Act. Furthermore, it would have required no fewer than 7 donors to pay this debt to avoid any one donor exceeding the prescribed annual limit of R15 million.

Beyond merely the Party Funding Act, there are also very real concerns that must be settled in terms of whether Ezulweni Investments, or any of the donors involved in settling the debt, conduct business with the state at any level. This is vital to ensure that we do not see tenders awarded to these companies and (or) donors going forward in such a manner that South Africans find themselves as the financiers behind the settlement of R102 million Ezulweni Investments debt.

While ActionSA’s request to the IEC for the investigation stands, we will pursue the offer made by President Ramaphosa to engage the Treasurer-General and obtain the information relating to the debt settlement.

ActionSA will keep all South Africans appraised of whether the ANC lives up to the commitment made by President Ramaphosa and, should they do so, whether the settlement terms of the R102 million debt were made lawfully.

Issued by Michael Beaumont, National Chairperson, ActionSA, 11 January 2024