ANC wants proof of ‘faking’

THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has responded to accusations that membership figures in the province are being fabricated, with a demand for evidence.

It was responding to claims that Luthuli House was probing “fake” membership in KZN and other provinces.

Its stance is the opposite of the one taken by the ANC in the Eastern Cape, which has welcomed the probe under way by auditors in all provinces ahead of the party’s elective conference in December.

In a statement, KZN spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli said no report had been made available on the results of the audit of five of their regions.

“We call upon anyone with evidence of fake membership to come forward and provide credible details so appropriate action can be taken,” Ntuli said.

“The ANC provincial executive committee will institute disciplinary measures against anyone involved in the manipulation of our membership records for selfish ends.”

His comments came after reports that the ANC’s two biggest provinces, KZN and the Eastern Cape, were among those investigated for fraudulent membership, along with Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Membership of these four provinces has been on the decline since the 2012 national general council.

ANC Eastern Cape spokesperson Mlibo Qoboshiyana welcomed the investigation.

“It is to give credibility to the membership records,” he said. “We don’t have large-scale fraud. But we do discover membership discrepancies.”

Qoboshiyana said the ANC allowed members to download membership forms and pay membership fees at the bank into the account of their branches.

At times, he said, people delayed submitting these forms to the branch secretaries, and as a result, auditors would come across envelopes of forms not on the database provided by the secretaries.

Qoboshiyana said that at other times, recruiters at branch level also did not submit membership forms because of infighting and gatekeeping. “The challenge then centres on the co-ordination of the forms before the audit.”