A public relations expert took the party to court\u201a claiming that she was owed R2.2m for work done by her company during the campaign and in the process spilt the beans on how it flopped and was eventually canned. The millions did not materialise.
Sihle Bolani Communications (SBC) tried on Tuesday to claw back the money it is allegedly owed by turning to the High Court in Johannesburg 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\u201a a businessman with ties to the ANC\u201a and Shaka Sisulu\u201a whose grandfather was ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu.
Bolani claimed that nine companies\u201a including Phat Joe\u2019s KTI Media\u201a were in on the plan.
The \u201cwar room\u201d was focused on enhancing the ANC\u2019s presence on social media while disempowering its political rivals\u201a the DA and EFF\u201a by printing fake election posters\u201a producing articles for a website called The New South African and material for a television show.
But a project report submitted by Bolani to the ANC in November last year did not paint a rosy picture of the team\u2019s work.
She said there was not adequate office space to house the team\u201a no access to daily newspapers\u201a magazines or petty cash. The core of the problem\u201a she said\u201a was incompetence\u201a non-delivery and unprofessionalism.
Citing one example\u201a she said the team agreed to produce and plant EFF posters to disarm the opposition. She enquired if the person responsible planned to \u201cplant\u201d callers on radio stations to draw attention to the posters but was told there was no need because the posters would be at busy intersections. The posters went largely unnoticed.
Bolani recalled how Sisulu reported to the office \u201cintoxicated\u201d\u201a wearing clothes from the night before. \u201cMr Nkadimeng had to go buy Mr Sisulu a new shirt before they attended an off-site meeting. Mr Sisulu\u2019s behaviour gave the impression that he did not take the project seriously\u201a\u201d said the report.
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 made ended up being for her personal account.
Sisulu was not available for comment but branded the report as \u201cfake news\u201d on twitter.
Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana said should there be evidence to support the sabotage of political parties it would prove the desperation on the part of the ANC.
\u201cIt went beyond the bounds of normal behaviour in terms of campaigning which was obviously an admission of the ANC that they had their back against the wall so they needed to use extra judicial measures.\u201d Said Ndletyana.
Another political analyst\u201a Andre Duvanhage\u201a said: \u201cPolitics is not always a democratic process and in essence it\u2019s about power and how to keep and control power as far as possible and within that context dirty politics is part of the game.\u201d
ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said\u201a \u201cTheir activities were not sanctioned by the ANC and\u201a consequently\u201a we distance ourselves against any insinuation that any such campaign was known to or approved by the African National Congress.\u201d
However\u201a it emerged in court papers that the party had agreed to pay her R1 million in a settlement agreement \u2013 without admitting there was a contract \u2013 after she demanded payment for her services.
Bolani\u201a speaking on radio 702 on Tuesday afternoon\u201a was adamant that she had worked on behalf of the ANC and had an agreement with the party.
The DA said fake posters\u201a fake news agencies and television shows were an extreme abuse of democratic processes. If true\u201a the allegations showed that the ANC was willing to manipulate and undermine ethical democratic conduct and action in order to ensure continued government rule.
EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: \u201cThis is very much like the ANC\u201a we had heard from various sources that the ANC had considered this tactic.
\u201cThey went as far as putting celebrities on their payroll to campaign for them \u2026 they knew they had lost their urban relevance.\u201d
He said no amount of propaganda could restore the reputation of a \u201cparty of thieves\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\nSimilarity rank: 1.1\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -18.7<\/div>\n

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