The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has challenged individuals and entities who publicly made COVID-19 Solidarity Fund pledges to produce their respective proofs of payment.
The party published its own proof of R6 million payment to the Fund in a statement on Friday and thanked its representatives for donating a third of their salaries.
It said, “We call on the Ruperts, Oppenheimers, Patrice Motsepe, Naspers, Sanlam, Vodacom and Dis-Chem, who have publicly announced that they will make donations to the Solidarity Fund, to produce proofs of payment.”
‘Public relations’
The party also challenged President Cyril Ramaphosa and other members of the Cabinet, provincial members of executive councils (MECs), the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) to produce their proofs of payment.
Ramaphosa announced in April that members of the Cabinet will contribute a third of their salaries to the Fund for three months. A number of provincial governments also announced similar salary cuts.
The ANC subsequently pledged that its members of Parliament will contribute 10 percent of their salaries for three months, which would amount to around R5.3 million. The DA said it will donate R1.5 million.
“The EFF believes that anyone who cannot produce these proofs of payment has effectively lied or misled society for public relations purposes. There is indeed too much grandstanding in our country which must be exposed by demands for proof/evidence,” the EFF said.
Ramaphosa’s pledge to Nelson Mandela Foundation
The EFF also brought up Ramaphosa’s 2018 pledge to contribute half of his salary to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
According to a Sunday Times report last year, the funds were yet to be disbursed to the Foundation because of differences on how they would be utilised.
“The president has set aside an amount equal to half his salary since May 2018, which will be placed in the [Thuma Mina Fund] once established. It has been agreed that the Fund’s first payments will be to the Nelson Mandela Foundation,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko was quoted saying.
The EFF now wants evidence. It said, “We challenge Ramaphosa to go beyond COVID-19 and also produce proofs of payment of all contributions to the Nelson Mandela Foundation from his salary.”
The party added, “Finally, we challenge Patrice Motsepe to also produce the proof of payment for the R3.5 billion he promised toward the acceleration of land reform.”
The billionaire businessman made this pledge at the Global Citizen Festival in December 2018. In October last year, he told an African Farmers Association of SA agribusiness transformation conference that plans were underway to establish a multibillion-rand fund for black farmers.
He said this plan involves the Motsepe Foundation, major banks, and agribusiness stakeholders. It was unclear however if it was related to his R3.5 billion pledge.