ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says his lawyers are pursuing legal action against North West businessman Brown Mogotsi over what he calls “false and defamatory statements”.
“My lawyers are busy with the matter of all the false defamatory statements he made about me,” Mbalula told TimesLIVE.
“This is obvious. There’s nothing I can say about the things he said, which are false. So my lawyers are busy with him in terms of defamation action. He will have to prove in court. I don’t have any other recourse,” he said.
Mbalula’s remarks come after Mogotsi made a series of explosive allegations during an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
Mogotsi alleged that Mbalula was involved in “shady dealings” with convicted taxi boss Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela, claiming the pair travelled abroad together before the 2015 murder of businessman Wandile Bozwana.
He accused Mbalula of benefiting from a housing scandal in the Free State through his wife and questioned the secretary-general’s conduct during the ANC’s 113th anniversary celebrations.
“Look, during the January 8th, he was in a boat. Officials of the ANC, the president and the rest, they were travelling in a boat to Robben Island. Fikile alone came with a very lavish boat owned by a foreign company,” Mogotsi alleged.
He suggested that Mbalula should step aside over his alleged ties to Mathibela and others facing criminal charges.
In response, Mbalula said Mogotsi’s claims were “fabrications” and will be tested in court.
“How do you deal with a thug who deviates from the real issue? The real issue is about his membership, which has expired,” said Mbalula. “He decided to draw me into thuggery. I’m not going to do that. I will deal with him through the courts, which is permissible in our country.
“He must come to court and prove all those things he has talked about before a competent court of law where both sides will be heard,” he said. “He did not even say ‘allegations’ — he stated them as fact. You can’t take what is written about somebody in the newspaper as fact, including about my family.”
Mbalula said his legal action aims to protect both his integrity and that of the ANC. “I will deal with that first in terms of my integrity, but second, the integrity of the organisation I lead, and we will exhaust it there,” he said.
Mbalula recently came under fire for arriving at the Robben Island event aboard a luxury yacht, drawing criticism from within the ANC.
However, ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Donald Selamolela defended him, saying the mode of transport was arranged by the ANC, not Mbalula himself.
“The secretary-general does not arrange his own movements. Whatever he goes with is determined by the ANC,” Selamolela told Newzroom Afrika. “It would have been the ANC that arranged whatever means of transport Mbalula used. Don’t put it on Mbalula.”
The ANC has since distanced itself from Mogotsi, confirming that his membership expired in 2020 and was never renewed. Mogotsi, however, insists his membership remains valid until the end of October.
Mbalula has called for accountability and distinction between “revolutionaries and criminals” within the movement, saying he will continue to uphold the ANC’s integrity through lawful means.
TimesLIVE
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