CR17 donors shouldn’t be ’embarrassed’ about backing Cyril, says EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF’s) legal team says those who made donations to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 campaign for the ruling party’s top spot, should not be embarrassed.

This as arguments in the EFF’s legal bid to unseal the campaign’s funding records got into their second and final day on Wednesday.

“One would imagine that with what CR17 stands for and what the donors want to do for the country, it is not something embarrassing,” advocate Ishmael Semenya SC told the North Gauteng High Court.

Semenya’s comments come despite the fact that in August 2019, the names of some of the donors – together with the amounts they had contributed – were leaked to the media and made public, placing those individuals at the centre of the controversy surrounding the campaign.

‘Public interest’

On Wednesday he described the task of weighing up the donors’ rights to privacy against the public interest, as a “very easy” one.

“The papers disclose how [Ramaphosa] assumed office, how public money was used to fund that ascension, and how individuals involved in that campaign funding endeavour had become now special advisors to our president, and therefore are part of how South Africa is governed,” Semenya said.

“We say all those considerations at the level of public interest, must count for more than the assertion of the individuals mentioned who want to claim confidentiality.”

In July 2019, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane released a controversial report on the CR17 campaign. In it, she found the President had breached the executive ethics code by not disclosing a R500 000 donation to the campaign made by Gavin Watson – the late former chief executive of Bosasa – and misled Parliament; as well as that there was “merit” to the suspicion of money laundering.

The report was reviewed and set aside by a full bench of the court last March and Mkhwebane has since approached the Constitutional Court with an application for leave to appeal, with a ruling currently pending.

Statements released

In the meantime, though, during the proceedings in the High Court, Mkhwebane put up bank statements from different accounts linked to the campaign, which she had obtained from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). At the time, these were sealed but now the EFF – with the backing of investigative journalism body amaBhungane – has approached the court with an application to have that seal lifted.

Proceedings kicked off on Tuesday, with arguments from the EFF, amaBhungane and the CR17 campaign committee, which is opposing the application. Also yesterday, arguments were heard from the FIC, which is also opposing the application, and additional arguments from the EFF.

Advocate Les Morison SC, for the FIC, argued the FIC Act provided that “no person may disclose confidential information held by or obtained from the centre” – save under very specific circumstances.

He emphasised that the EFF’s legal representatives had had the opportunity to examine the documentation in question.

“So it’s not a massive violation of the public’s trust. On the contrary, the documentation’s been made available to those the FIC Act recognises enjoy that trust. But to make it available any further would be to compromise the interests of those whom the act protects,” he said.

Judgment was reserved.

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