Johannesburg - Spokesperson for the disbanded Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association Carl Niehaus alongside some aggrieved ANC staff members have laid an official complaint against the party’s national office-bearers with the Public Protector.
Niehaus wants the Public Protector to urgently investigate the financial issues plaguing the party.
The ANC has been experiencing cash-flow problems and has caused major issues in salary payouts for its staffers.
This is the second step Niehaus has taken in reporting the ANC for its alleged financial mismanagement.
In September, he laid criminal charges against the top brass of the ANC, excluding Ace Magashule, along with the ANC itself.
He opened charges of fraud, theft and corruption at the Johannesburg Central police station in September against five top six officials of the ANC.
Further charges laid by Niehaus included contravention of pay-as-you-earn regulations, Unemployment Insurance Fund rules, the Pension Fund Act and the Tax Administration Act.
The charges all relate to the non-payment of salaries to ANC employees.
In his official compliant to the Public Protector, Niehaus requests advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office to urgently investigate why the relevant government institutions “so dismally failed to carry out their legal duties and failed to protect my interests and the interests of other employees of the ANC”.
“I furthermore request that the Public Protector investigate whether the ANC or members of the ANC influenced these government institutions not to carry out their legal obligations and thus failed to act against the ANC,” his complaint read.
In a statement issued afterwards, Niehaus said the decision to lay criminal charges was not an easy step for them and only followed after many months of raising their concerns internally with senior management of the ANC, without tangible response.
He said he wanted to emphasise that they had no intention to bring the ANC into disrepute and that it was actually those senior leaders and managers who committed the crimes who have brought the ANC into disrepute.
“Laying an official complaint with the Public Protector is a serious attempt to salvage the ANC from mismanagement. We want to draw a clear distinction between political and financial maladministration and mismanagement issues. This is pure and simply a labour matter, it is not a factional political issue,” he said.
Further in his complaint to the Public Protector, Niehaus said he believed that at the very least, the Financial Services Board and South African Revenue Service were involved as those institutions regulate the Provident Fund and PAYE, and have not taken steps to bring the ANC to book for their alleged criminal acts.
“These criminal acts have been carried out over a prolonged period and it is indeed inconceivable that these government institutions have not been aware of such. The very serious question arises if these government institutions have decided not to act because these matters involve the ANC as the governing party,” he stated in his complaint.
He said filing this complaint with the Public Protector was the second step in their plan to bring attention to the party’s alleged financial mismanagement.
“A further announcement and release of documents regarding the third step that we are undertaking will be made this coming Wednesday. Without going into it any further at this stage, suffice to say that this concerns the ANC’s financial health as an ongoing concern,” he said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Political Bureau