The DA has called on the SAPS, the SA Revenue Service, the Hawks and the IEC to investigate the finances of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and its leader Gayton McKenzie.
The DA claims McKenzie and his party are linked to organised crime and allegedly benefit from drug-related income to fund their organisation.
The DA has formally requested that SARS conduct lifestyle audits of McKenzie and the PA’s top leadership. Furthermore, they have urged the police to probe these allegations and called on the IEC to enforce the Political Party Funding Act (PPFA).
These demands follow serious allegations made by convicted inmate Jermaine Prim in a handwritten letter. The letter was recently presented to parliament’s ad hoc committee by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Prim alleged that McKenzie is connected to drug cartels and uses the PA as a front for illicit activities. He claimed his accusations are supported by a leaked voice recording in which a PA ward councillor allegedly admits the party is running a drug business.
“There is now no other option for the national police commissioner but to investigate these claims,” said DA Western Cape chairperson JP Smith.
“It is very clear which PA leader is alleged to be involved with the drug trade, their links to organised crime, the ‘Numbers’ gangs, and the specific properties in question,” Smith added.
He also called on SARS to intervene.
“The PA’s conspicuous display of wealth — and the large inducements allegedly offered to public representatives to defect to the PA — warrant immediate lifestyle audits.”
Smith emphasised that the PPFA prohibits political parties from accepting money from individuals involved in organised crime.
“The time has come for the IEC to act. If the PA accepted funds from known criminals, it is a direct violation of the act.”
Smith further noted that the ward councillor involved in the leaked recording did not deny her statements when confronted on social media but instead dismissed them as “old news” from 2022.
“A somewhat implausible explanation was offered, suggesting the recording had been manipulated,” Smith said. “This seems unlikely, given that the other party on the call was in prison at the time using an unauthorised cellphone allegedly supplied by Gayton McKenzie. It is difficult to see how he could have falsified such a call. The facts can no longer be left to speculation.”
The Patriotic Alliance has dismissed Smith’s allegations, labelling them “reckless, flawed, and opportunistic” attempts to secure votes in the Western Cape.
“He seems equally clueless about the fact that all ministers are already audited as members of the cabinet,” said PA spokesperson Steve Motale. “The Patriotic Alliance is fully compliant with the Political Party Funding Act and has declared all sources of its funding to the IEC with a full audit trail.”
The PA responded with scathing personal attacks, accusing Smith of drug abuse and suggesting he has his own ties to the underworld.
“The only thing that could possibly explain JP Smith’s wild and incoherent statement is that there must be some truth to the regular allegations of his cocaine abuse,” the PA statement claimed. “He must have been on his seventh line before he wrote his first line.”
The PA further alleged that Smith has relationships with drug dealers and threatened to release “documentary proof” of DA-led administrations awarding contracts to gangsters.
“The DA must think carefully if it wants to keep throwing stones while living in a glass house.”
TimesLIVE
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