ANC dismisses AfriForum's 'Mbalula Dossier' as politically motivated smear campaign

The ANC on Wednesday rejected what it called a "politically motivated smear campaign" by AfriForum, after the organisation released a 21-page dossier targeting ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula and calling on the United States to impose personal sanctions against him under the Global Magnitsky Act.

This comes after weeks of escalating tensions between South Africa and the United States over farm violence, land reform, and AfriForum's increasingly active lobbying efforts in Washington, a diplomatic fault line that has grown steadily wider as the organisation has positioned itself as an interlocutor between Afrikaner interest groups and the American government.

The AfriForum report centres on a 2016 Dubai holiday allegedly funded by more than R680,000 drawn from a departmental service provider while Mbalula was serving as Minister of Sport. The organisation alleges the trip constitutes fraud and money laundering, and has laid out its case across 21 pages submitted to American authorities.

Crucially, AfriForum framed its appeal to Washington carefully, urging the US to sanction Mbalula personally rather than pursue broader penalties against South Africa as a whole, citing what it described as his anti-Western statements and reported meetings with Hamas as further grounds for targeted action.

In a statement issued by national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu, the ANC accused AfriForum of acting as "an imperialist aligned pressure group that routinely seeks intervention from foreign powers against a democratic sovereign nation."

"This document is not a pursuit of justice, but a politically motivated smear campaign," Bhengu said, adding that AfriForum had "long positioned itself as an enemy of transformation, non-racialism and the democratic will of the South African people."

Mbalula himself dismissed the dossier in similar terms, characterising it as a reactionary attack with no legal merit.

The ANC's response zeroed in on what it described as an unprecedented affront to national sovereignty, that a South African civil society organisation had approached a foreign government to act against a sitting leader of the country's governing party.

"Its call for the United States to impose punitive measures against a South African, who is a leader of the democratically elected governing party, is not only reckless, but an affront and direct attack on our sovereignty," said Bhengu .

The ANC drew a pointed historical parallel, reminding the public that President Nelson Mandela and the broader liberation movement were designated as terrorists by the United States during the apartheid era, only to be removed from American terror watchlists as recently as 2008 under President George W. Bush.

"The ANC will not be intimidated by organisations that seek to weaponise foreign policy instruments such as the Magnitsky Act to settle domestic political scores," Bhengu said.

The ruling party did not shy away from suggesting the dossier's release was deliberately timed to counter the momentum of last week's People's March, held on Human Rights Day, which the ANC described as a "resounding success" in defence of sovereignty and democratic gains.

"That mobilisation of the masses has shaken AfriForum and its backers," Bhengu said, characterising the dossier as "a clumsy attempt to shift the narrative and discredit the leadership of the ANC and its Secretary-General."

The ANC went further, levelling some of its harshest language to date at the Pretoria-based organisation, accusing it of defending racist narratives, undermining land reform, opposing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, and exporting "falsehoods about South Africa to international platforms."

"AfriForum has once again exposed its true character," the statement read, describing the organisation as one that "has abandoned any pretence of patriotism and has chosen instead to act as a proxy for external interests that are hostile to South Africa's transformation agenda."

Despite the gravity of the allegations contained in the dossier, the ANC offered its unequivocal backing to its Secretary-General.

"The ANC reaffirms its full confidence in the Secretary General and the leadership of the movement," the statement said, insisting that the party would remain focused on "defending national sovereignty, advancing economic transformation, and improving the material conditions of our people."

"South Africa is a constitutional democracy with functioning institutions. Matters of law enforcement are handled within our legal framework, not outsourced to foreign governments at the behest of lobby groups with clear ideological and separatist agendas." 

IOL News