ANC facing separate probes of War Room poll project
THE ANC is facing two possible probes into its War Room project that sought to heap dirt on opposition parties, after the official opposition asked the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to investigate the party.
The IEC and Icasa said yesterday they would look into the matter, with the IEC insisting that the issue would be discussed at its next full meeting.
“The commission can confirm that a meeting took place today (yesterday) with members of the DA at the Electoral Commission’s national office in Centurion,” said the IEC.
“The DA delegation was led by the leader of the party, Mr Mmusi Maimane. The delegation of the Electoral Commission was led by the chairperson, Mr Glen Mashinini,” said the commission.
It was a scheduled meeting arising from an incident that took place last August following a request by the DA, it said.
“The commission can also confirm that Mr Maimane took the opportunity to raise concerns regarding the media reports of the ANC ‘War Room’ and allegations of a misin- formation campaign,” it said.
“The commission delegation has noted all the issues raised by the DA and has undertaken to report and deliberate on these matters at the full meeting of the commission,” it said.
Maimane said following his discussions with the IEC on the ANC’s fake news campaign, the commission had promised to investigate the matter.
The IEC urged him to submit a formal complaint, he said. This would be done in the coming days.
Meanwhile in Parliament, DA MP Phumzile van Damme also asked Icasa to conduct a similar probe against the ANC, saying an inquiry was needed.
But Icasa refused to be drawn into the War Room project furore, saying it did not investigate print media on fake news allegations.
It urged Van Damme to submit a formal complaint on the matter.
Icasa councillor Nomvuyiso Batyi responded to questions from Van Damme on whether Icasa would launch an inquiry into the fake news saga.
Batyi told MPs yesterday that Icasa’s mandate was to regulate the broadcasting sector and it would not be involved in matters related to other sec- tors of the media. However, Batyi said Van Damme could send her request to Icasa in writing so that it could look at it further.
Icasa was appearing before the portfolio committee on communications on the SABC’s failure to comply with its order to the lift the broadcaster’s ban on violent protests.
The ANC has been accused of setting up a War Room before the local government elections last August, when it wanted to raise R50 million and to dig up dirt on opposition parties.
PR consultant Sihle Bolani is suing the ANC for R2.2m for not paying her for work done. ANC general manager Ignatius Jacobs has launched a counter-lawsuit against Bolani.
The ANC has denied the allegations of a fake news campaign and said the people involved in the project were volunteers.
Batyi said they would not get involved in matters outside the broadcast sector.
“I will take guidance from the committee because chairperson I don’t have authority to speak on that. We don’t regu- late the content of the news,” she said.
“We regulate that the news must be conducted in a fair manner,” said Batyi.
She said she wanted more information from Van Damme, but insisted that Icasa would not be involved in matters outside of the law.
“We are required to do inquiries, but those must be guided by the law.
“We don’t regulate news. It has to be fair,” she said of the news content.
Van Damme said she would provide Icasa with more details on the fake news campaign.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa could not be reached for comment.