ANC’s R50m war room shambles

Details of incompetent, unprofessional campaign to discredit opposition revealed in court

A R50-million “war room” set up to ensure the ANC emerged victorious in last year’s local government elections was characterised by incompetence‚ unprofessionalism and a lack of accountability. A public relations expert who took the party to court‚ claiming that she was owed R2.2-million for work done by her company during the campaign, spilt the beans in the process on how it flopped and was eventually canned. The millions did not materialise.

Sihle Bolani Communications (SBC) tried yesterday to claw back the money allegedly owed by turning to the Johannesburg High Court, but the court decided the case was not urgent.

SBC managing director Sihle Bolani said in court papers the task team was put together by Joseph Nkadimeng‚ a businessman with ties to the ANC‚ and Shaka Sisulu‚ grandson of ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu.

Bolani claimed that nine companies‚ including Phat Joe’s KTI Media‚ were in on the plan.

The war room was focused on enhancing the ANC’s presence on social media while disempowering its political rivals‚ the DA and EFF‚ by printing fake election posters‚ and producing articles for a website called The New South African and material for a TV show.

But a project report submitted by Bolani to the ANC in November did not paint a rosy picture of the team’s work.

She said there was not enough office space to house the team‚ no access to daily newspapers‚ magazines or petty cash.

The core of the problem was incompetence‚ non-delivery and unprofessionalism, she said.

Citing one example‚ Bolani said the team had agreed to produce and plant EFF posters to disarm the opposition.

She asked whether the person responsible planned to “plant” callers on radio stations to draw attention to the posters, but was told that there was no need because the posters would be at busy intersections. But they went largely unnoticed.

Bolani recalled that Sisulu had reported to the office “intoxicated”‚ wearing the same clothes from the night before.

“Mr Nkadimeng had to go buy Mr Sisulu a new shirt before they attended an off-site meeting,” she said in the report. “Mr Sisulu’s behaviour gave the impression that he did not take the project seriously.”

A lack of invoice payments meant KTI Media could not procure high-quality equipment to record videos. There was no Wi-Fi and all the data used and telephone calls ended up being for her personal account.

Sisulu was not available for comment but branded the report as “fake news” on Twitter.

Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana said should there be evidence to support the sabotage of political parties it would prove desperation on the part of the ANC. “It went beyond the bounds of normal behaviour in terms of campaigning, which was obviously an admission of the ANC that they had their backs against the wall so they needed to use extra-judicial measures.”

Another political analyst‚ Andre Duvanhage‚ said: “Politics is not always a democratic process and, in essence, it’s about how to keep and control power as far as possible. Within that context, dirty politics is part of the game.”

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said: “Their activities were not sanctioned by the ANC. Consequently‚ we distance ourselves from any insinuation that any such campaign was known to or approved by the ANC.”

However‚ it emerged in the court papers that the party had agreed to pay Bolani R1-million in a settlement agreement – without admitting there was a contract – after she demanded payment for her services.

Bolani‚ speaking on Radio 702 yesterday‚ was adamant she had worked on behalf of the ANC and had an agreement with the party.

The DA said fake posters and fake news agencies and television shows were an extreme abuse of democratic processes.

If true‚ the allegations showed that the ANC was willing to manipulate and undermine ethical democratic conduct and action to ensure continued government rule.

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: “This is very much like the ANC – we had heard from various sources that the ANC had considered this tactic.”

He said no amount of propaganda could restore the reputation of a “party of thieves”.