The Guptas and their companies have allegedly obtained a warrant from the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to seize property worth R180 000 from the EFF’s head office in Braamfontein.
The warrant was granted by High Court Judge Willem Louw on 11 December, allowing the Guptas to seize ‘moveable goods’ which will be used to cover their legal costs relating to an earlier court case with the EFF leader, Julius Malema and his party.
According to reports, Louw ordered the EFF, Malema and EFF Gauteng spokesperson, Ntobeng Ntobeng to stop making threats of violence against the brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, their companies and the latter’s employees.
The party was also ordered to pay the Guptas’ legal costs totalling just more than R140 000. The EFF also owes the Guptas a further R38 000 relating to an unsuccessful attempt by the party to appeal Louw’s decision.
Read:Â Just how many people do the Guptas employ in SA?
According to Gert van der Merwe, the Guptas’ lawyer, he received a letter from Tumi Mokwena, the EFF’s legal representative in the matter, about two weeks ago. Mokwena allegedly said that the EFF still wanted to appeal the interdict granted in February, but according to Van Der Merwe, the EFF had missed the deadline before, and they had to petition the court to appeal the interdict.
EFF general secretary Godrich Gardee, who claimed the party had not received a ‘tax bill’, said they were not aware of the execution order granted to the Guptas, “The court order must be served. The question is, has it been served to the EFF or is it being served to the EFF through the media. Is that how a court order must be served?
“If there is a tax bill and a demand for payment, they know the offices, they will come here and drop it. And if we have a problem that it is too high, we have an option to go to court and contest the amount. If we think it is a fair amount, we will just pay.
“They are declaring war on the EFF. Whether it is genuine or fake [the execution order], we will send it to our lawyers and they will tell us what happens next.”
