Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Dispute over hotel room bookings by factions
MONTECASINO and Bidvest have been drawn into a political battle on the eve of the ANC National Conference.
On Thursday night, at the ANC’s national executive committee meeting, backers of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma accused Bidvest of booking hotel rooms at the casino resort – which is not an officially recognised hotel for the conference.
The complaint was interpreted as an attack on fellow presidential hopeful Cyril Ramaphosa, whose company Shanduka has links with Bidvest, with the implication that accommodation was being used to secure favours.
Four NEC members who attended the meeting told Independent Media that the issue of accommodation and transport was part and parcel of the battle. In the run up to the conference, several ANC leaders complained about the use of “dirty money” as a tactic to influence the outcome of the elections.
An NEC member, aligned to Ramaphosa, said the NEC members who had raised the Bidvest issue had immediately been challenged to provide evidence. “The matter was raised as a concern, to say we need to look into it. Nobody said it’s Cyril’s people. But you could see, when it was raised, that they wanted to blame one side,” he said.
Delegates are staying in various designated hotels around Joburg, but there is also “unofficial” accommodation for some people attending the conference.
“There are many people booked around, friends of the conference and others supporting one camp or another coming into places that are not official bookings,” the source said.
“You can’t attach value to these things without evidence. It’s just part of the smear campaign and dirty politicking. Do we even know who funds the ANC today?” he challenged.
An NEC member aligned to Dlamini Zuma said the meeting noted that Montecasino was not official accommodation for the ANC.
“The discussion was that the ANC booked accommodation for all delegates and people booked at other hotels. It is a matter of factionalism. They (Bidvest) are funding the Ramaphosa campaign,” he said.
“If you see people booked in a hotel, you don’t know who paid for transport and the hotel… (There is) no evidence that CR people booked delegates,” he said.
Tsogo Sun communications co-ordinator Bomi Bukali declined to comment to protect the privacy of guests.
Bidvest spokesperson Julian Gwillim said the company did not sponsor or fund the campaigns of any individuals involved in the elective conference. He said it was possible one of the company’s travel agencies could have been used by some of the ANC structures to facilitate accommodation but stressed that this would have had nothing to do with Ramaphosa.
“Bidvest has not paid any form of travel nor any form of accommodation for any delegates involved in the elective conference, nor has the company paid any costs related to the campaign of any individuals involved in the conference,” Gwillim said.