ANC rubbishes Mabuza, Mashatile graft claims

The ANC has said that it “rejects and condemns in the strongest possible terms” allegations that its deputy president David Mabuza and treasurer general, Paul Mashatile, pocketed $2 million meant for Luthuli House.

The Mail & Guardian reported on Saturday that the duo pocketed money from donors meant for party coffers.

The publication quoted two anonymous sources.

Luthuli House’s financial wows are well know and insiders allege that the party is sitting on a massive tax bill, which includes millions of rands in pay-as-you-earn tax, which was deducted from salaries, but not paid to Sars.

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In response to the article, the ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe issued a statement on Sunday morning, saying there is “no iota of truth” to the graft allegations.

“The ANC is considering laying a complaint with the Press Ombudsman,” Mabe said.

“It is unfortunate that the Mail & Guardian has decided to cast unfair aspersions on the integrity of our leaders,” Mabe said.

“While the ANC has been honest and frank about its current financial challenges, it is unfortunate that some in the media chose to seize on these difficulties that confront our movement to manufacture and peddle falsehoods and to tarnish the reputation of individual leaders.”

The publication reported that ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa apparently lobbied around R30 million from “donors in 2019 and 2020 to help the ANC recover from its financial woes”.

The Citizen previously reported that the cash-strapped ANC had an R80 million tax bill when Mashatile took over as treasurer-general in December 2017, and that the party reportedly owed a further R140 million in provident-fund debt.

To date, Mashatile has reportedly paid over R100 million servicing this debt, but the bill remained high because of the interest.