Thuli rocks ANC votes party

The use of state resources to further party interests were flagged by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela yesterday.

Her first investigation, titled State and Party Colours, involved allegations that Operation Hlasela, a Free State provincial government programme used to enhance service delivery, was instead a prop in an ANC election campaign.

Part of the complaint was that in the lead up to the 2011 municipal elections a truck was used for electioneering with a photograph of President Jacob Zuma and Premier Ace Magashule with the message "Vote ANC" and "Hlasela".

The issue, Madonsela said, was whether the ANC used Free State government resources to advance the party during elections; and did Operation Hlasela amount to "conflation of state and party".

A complication was that there were two programmes using the name Operation Hlasela - one was a government programme and the other a private initiative. After a meeting with Magashule, the private initiative changed its name to Friends of the Free State.

Madonsela found that the private Operation Hlasela benefited from shared branding and free advertising at the provincial government's expense. Other parties and candidates were also prejudiced.

Her recommendation was that a provincial policy be developed and circulated, clarifying the separation between state and party activities.

The second report dealt with an incident in 2009 when then-president of the ANC Youth league Julius Malema allegedly distributed SA Social Security Agency food parcels in Cape Town.

Part of the investigation was whether a pledge of a R100,000 Sassa grant by Malema amounted to maladministration. Her findings were that "while Mr Malema attended the event by virtue of being a member of the political party that organised the event, the involvement of the former minister of social development Edna Molewa and the presence of Sassa officials during the event was improper".

Madonsela recommended that the Department of Social Development and Sassa develop a policy setting out the separation of state and party activities to ensure that no government organ be allowed to use its position to market political parties.

Madonsela said she wanted her findings released before this year's municipal elections.