The EFF statement on the recent allegations of impropriety by a Wiekus Kotze

08 April 2015

The Economic Freedom Fighters notes that for the umpteenth time, public allegations of impropriety were made in a Press Conference called by a certain Mr. Kenny Kunene and Wiekus Kotze on Tuesday, the 07th of April 2015 somewhere in Johannesburg. The EFF has since its 1st National People's Assembly been publicly responding to detractors who allege organisational, political and financial impropriety in the organisation, and in all instances the responses we provide prevail over the lies these detractors spread (see report in The Star).

Tuesday, the 7th of April 2015 Press Conference is not different from the many Press Conferences held by different disgruntled groupings making allegations of impropriety without any proof. Wiekus Kotze, the subject of the recent Press Conference is an ex-employee of the EFF in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. Mr. Kotze is not a Chief Financial Officer of the EFF, because in its organogram, the EFF does not have Chief Financial Officer position, and all finances are managed under the oversight of the Treasurer General and Finance Committee. Mr. Kotze was formally charged by the EFF Caucus in Gauteng for illegally and without authorisation transferring money of the organisation to his personal account in the pretext that he was paying for T-shirts.

When Mr. Kotze was confronted about this transaction, he admitted to this impropriety and fraud, and offered to resign as an employee of the organisation, and specifically pleaded that we should not report the case to the police as he was going to pay back the money. The EFF duly released him as an employee upon realising that in two of his previous jobs, Mr. Kotze was suspended for financial impropriety. We are still awaiting the money which Mr. Kotze has made a commitment to pay back to the organisation and have since opened a police case against him in Johannesburg Central. The case number for Mr. Kotze is 1507/2/1015and the Contact Number for the investigating Officer is (011)497-7000.

In the same Press Conference, Mr. Kunene is alleged to have said that he founded the EFF, and therefore the ‘Godfather' of the EFF. As South Africa will remember, Mr. Kunene joined the EFF, and later resigned after being requested to do so by the leadership, and founded the Patriotic Alliance (PA). The EFF and the PA are not the same, and it cannot be correct that Mr. Kunene founded the EFF, because like all the detractors who claim to have founded the EFF, he was accepted as a member and later advised to step aside due to the obvious reason that he was a humiliating liability to the organisation. The EFF issued a public statement when Mr. Kunene joined the EFF and issued another public statement when he resigned, and he most certainly is not a founder of the organisation.

The EFF is unaware of any police case opened against the EFF and will gladly cooperate with Legal Authorities who wish to gain clarity on the sources, nature and character of this malice. We are an organisation that has functional financial accountability systems and will never account to detractors who are hell-bent on defaming the EFF. As a matter of record, the EFF is not engaged in any criminal activity and does not have any off-shore account as alleged by these detractors.

We attribute the lies and attempts to damage the image of the EFF to the reality that as a Movement we are growing by leaps and bounds and winning the hearts and minds of many voters in South Africa. This has recently been proven by the EFF's victory in many institutions of Higher Learning, including Tshwane University of Technology, University of Limpopo, Vaal University of Technology, Tshwane North College, Central Johannesburg College, and almost institutions of higher learning that have gone through elections since the 1st National People's Assembly.

The EFF is fully aware that all revolutions have their own sell-outs and detractors, and the growth of the organisation will always leave staff-riders on the sideways who will shout and throw insults because they were internally rejected for one reason or another. We remain unshaken and will continue to implement the Programme of Action as adopted by the 1st Plenum of the EFF 1st National People's Assembly.

Siyagijima!

Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, April 8 2015

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