Madonsela probing funds-abuse claim

PUBLIC protector Thuli Madonsela is investigating allegations that the ANC has abused state resources on the campaign trail.

Madonsela’s office confirmed this week that it was investigating three cases of alleged abuse of state resources that involved the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), the Department of Social Development and the Gauteng provincial government.

This comes amid an outcry by opposition parties over practices such as Sassa distributing food parcels and blankets to the elderly at an ANC rally in Tumahole in Parys in the Free State.

Madonsela’s spokesman, Oupa Segalwe, said the public protector had also taken up the cases of Gauteng billboards that were paid for by the province but decked out in ANC colours, and the distribution of Sassa mattresses by the ANC in Valhalla Park in Cape Town this year.

“The public protector is set to arrange an urgent meeting with Sassa to seek clarity on their response and to further understand the social relief of distress programme,” said Segalwe.

Earlier this year, while on a door-to-door campaign in Val- halla Park, which was gutted by fire last year, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte, accompanied by ANC members and the party’s youth league leadership, handed over the mattresses to residents before dashing off to address the provincial manifesto launch.

Segalwe said there was another planned meeting with Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini as part of Madonsela’s investigation into allegations of the distribution of food parcels in Tlokwe, in the North West, last year in the lead-up to municipal by-elections.

Madonsela’s office announced last year that she was investigating Dlamini under the Executive Members’ Ethics Act.

On the Gauteng billboards saga, Segalwe said the public protector was conducting a preliminary investigation into the matter and would contact the Independent Electoral Commission, to see whether it was not the competent body to investigate the complaint.

The complaint was made by the Democratic Alliance.

This week, DA federal chairman James Selfe said the party had written to all government departments asking them about the use of state resources, with a view to taking legal action.