Telling the truth could put your life at risk in the ANC, says the party’s national executive committee member Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
On Saturday, Dlamini Zuma filed an opposing affidavit against party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who has taken legal action against her.
Mbalula is demanding that she apologise for saying that he had paid delegates at the December 2022 ANC elective conference, which saw him elected as secretary-general.
During an interview with the African Renaissance podcast in August, Dlamini Zuma said there was a problem in the ANC whereby leadership outcomes were decided through the buying of votes.
She said money had played a big role in the 2022 ANC elective conference and that some of the current ANC leaders elected at the conference had won their positions because they had used money to influence the outcome.
She accused Mbalula of having openly dished out money to delegates at a clinic to influence the conference’s electoral outcome, saying that was not a secret. The money had been used to ensure that he and ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa were elected.
In his court papers, Mbalula denied the allegations, saying they were false and made to defame him.
“I emphatically deny these allegations as there is no merit to any of them. The Respondent cannot point to or provide any shred of evidence regarding these spurious and unfounded allegations.
“They are false and made with the sole purpose of lowering my standing in the eyes of the public. The only reasonable inference that one can draw from the conduct of the Respondent is that these allegations are calculated to defame me.”
In her court papers, Dlamini Zuma said Mbalula’s denial was not supported by facts. She attached an affidavit from one of the people who was present, participated in and benefited from the distribution of money by Mbalula as proof.
“I am not alone in knowing that the applicant was engaged in this. There are many people in the ANC who witnessed this but some of them fear for their lives and are reluctant to come out.
“Others have been advised by their families not to enter this fray because telling the truth has become a life-threatening event in the ANC and South Africa. Some of these individuals have reached out to me, expressing their support and their fears.
“This is not a dispute about legal interpretation. It is not a legal disagreement. It is a dispute about what happened. It is a dispute about facts: whether delegates were paid and whether the applicant was involved. These are material factual disputes that go to the very heart of the applicant’s claim.
“The applicant’s response is a bare denial. He has not submitted any primary facts before this Court to prove that the events I referred to did not occur. The applicant simply asserts that they did not; and the dispute of fact is therefore genuine, material and unavoidable.”
Dlamini Zuma also attached an affidavit from Mandla Themba Sibiya, of the Mzala Nxumalo Region, who said he had been present when Mbalula had distributed money to delegates at the 2022 conference.
Sibiya said he had seen everything and had also benefited financially.
He said he was ready to confront the issue once and for all — that money was being used to buy votes at ANC conferences.
