Claims of ‘pure politics’ as parties clash over unpaid bills

IT seemed like a simple business deal when the Western Cape ANC hired the Cape Town International Convention Centre for its 2011 elective conference.

But the “straightforward” deal has turned into a nightmare for the centre’s holding company, Convenco, which has been struggling for three years to get the provincial ANC to pay.

It now seems ANC provincial secretary Fezile Calana may have to take the fall for his par- ty’s debt if the city has its way.

The DA-run City of Cape Town, a major shareholder in Convenco, wants action taken against him to recover the R1.8million debt.

DA councillors in the municipal public accounts committee have suggested, among other things, that the company should attach Calana’s assets.

“We have asked Louis Muller, our representative in Convenco, to look at Calana’s assets,” said councillor Stuart Diamond.

A report Muller tabled at the committee recently details the steps the company has taken.

Calana signed the contract to hire the venue on February 9 for three days for just more than R2million.

He then deposited two cheques — one for R1-million and another for R810 000 — but both bounced because there were insufficient funds in his company’s account.

The ANC made three payments, totalling just more than R500 000, between February 2011 and February 2013.

The outstanding balance of R1.5-million has been accumulating interest, taking it to R1.8million to date.

According to municipal reports, Convenco handed the matter to its lawyers and obtained a default judgment in September 2011, but the ANC negotiated a payment plan, which was also not honoured.

As a result, the sheriff attached its assets, but they were worth only R15 000.

The company also “sent a registered post” to ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe informing him of the debt.

Calana has dismissed the mounting pressure as cheap politicking. He said party officials were meant to meet the centre’s officials to discuss the matter, but had been sidetracked by election campaigns.

“The City of Cape is using this debt to divert attention because the DA is under pressure from the ANC in the Western Cape,” said Calana. “It’s pure politics.”

This is not the first time the party has been embroiled in controversy about unpaid bills. It was in the spotlight last year when its youth league was taken to court about a R15-million debt stemming from a 2008 elective conference in Bloemfontein.

Convenco also noted in the report that “the ANC Youth League incurred some debt in Mpumalanga, and when the youth league was threatened with sequestration, the ANC national office stepped in and settled the debt”.

Ian Neilson, the deputy mayor of Cape Town, said it was “pathetic” that the ANC had not settled the debt.

“It just indicates a lack of responsibility, and that is the way they run their own organisation. God help us if they get to run the Western Cape,” said Neilson.