AfriForum to investigate EFF for financial fraud after court-mandated payment papers found to be doctored

Back in September, the EFF were forced by the High Court to pay AfriForum’s legal costs for a case brought against the extremist political party for inciting violence and land invasions. In the coming months the EFF and Malema will have to pay AfriForum for another 2 cost orders granted against them, when the Supreme Court of Appeal & Constitutional Court also recently dismissed their application for leave to appeal the interdict, which orders them not to incite land occupations anymore.

The R316 000 owed by the EFF was delivered this week, but when the proof of payment arrived, it appeared that the proof of payment document, sent to AfriForum on 6 November by long-time EFF legal council Ian Levitt Attourneys, contained a couple of dubious details. On the 7th of November, after AfriForum publicised the proof of payments to celebrate their victory, accountant and UKZN lecturer Khaya Sithole noticed that the list of Standard Bank directors at the bottom of the proof of payment form were at least eight years out of date, as two of them had left the institution.

The funds mentioned above do reflect in AfriForum’s bank, but after contacting Standard Bank for an explanation, it was found that the origins of the payment had indeed been fraudulently altered.

The falsified proof of payment now appears to conceal an unknown benefactor. Upon further investigation, AfriForum’s legal team also discovered that the EFF has also sent falsified proof of payments to other organisations. For example, the EFF apparently used the same suspicious paperwork in the proof of payment they published on X in May of 2020 for the R6m they contributed to the COVID-19 Solidarity Fund.

Ernst van Zyl, AfriForum’s Head of Public Relations, made the following statement on behalf of the organisation:

“Why did the EFF resort to tampering with a proof of payment and who is really responsible for paying the party’s debt? What is the EFF hiding and who is it trying to protect? If the EFF goes to such lengths to cover their tracks, it raises the question of what other secret activities the party is involved in. Ultimately, for the time being, we can only wonder who the secret funder behind their payments is, and why its so important that his identity be hidden at all costs.”

“This major, suspicious development in the ongoing story of the EFF’s legal debts to AfriForum has wide-ranging implications. Has this anonymous financier been declared to the Independent Electoral Commission? And is this an ongoing modus operandi employed by the EFF? The multiple other proof of payments to other organisations that have now been confirmed to be falsified as well, indicates this to be the case. AfriForum will keep its members and the public up to date.”

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit has been instructed to investigate possible criminal offences, such as forgery and uttering, as well as fraud. Adv. Gerrie Nel and his team will launch a full-scale in-depth investigation to trace the trail of this falsified proof of payment, the purpose of which appears to be an attempt to veil the identity of an EFF benefactor.

It is common knowledge that Julius Malema, the EFF leader, has relations with known elements of organised crime. Public curiosity about the funding of the EFF has included speculation about the Mazzotti family, who has a reputation for tobacco smuggling across the Zimbabwean border, and Swazi billionaire Sol Kirsch, the wealthiest man in eSwatini. This investigation could finally put an end to the speculations.

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