Johannesburg - Creditors circled the ANC like vultures on Tuesday, with one company aggrieved that the party splashed R2.2 million on a stadium for its 103rd birthday while another towed away a Mercedes-Benz G class after the party defaulted on parking rental payments.
While Indigo Logistics hauled the party to the High Court in Joburg for a sequestration order, another scene played out mere metres from Luthuli House, the ANC HQ.
Party members were pleading with property owner Herman Schoeman to allow them to settle thousands owed to him in parking fees for the armoured and bulletproof Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen.
Mounted on a tow truck parked on President Street, the dusty car drew attention from motorists, pedestrians and workers at nearby buildings.
It was not clear where Schoeman was towing the car to, but it is believed he wanted to take it to Langlaagte police station, but ANC members wanted him to hand the vehicle over to them.
He wouldn’t budge.
“This car has been standing here since the ANC lease expired… (and) that was three years ago. You can’t take the car when you still owe me money,” he said, letting slip that he was owed “more than R80 000”. But the men circling him wouldn’t give up.
“It’s our car,” said one.
Schoeman told them to give him a letter “saying the car belongs to the ANC if you are removing it”.
One man even produced a bank card, saying he was willing to pay the tow truck driver who had loaded the car.
One man indicated that the car had been donated to Nelson Mandela, but when called for comment, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said: “I called the office, nobody knows about this incident. We don’t park any cars outside the building (Luthuli House).”
Schoeman was seen entering Luthuli House at 2.45pm with the group that tried to persuade him to hand over “the ANC car”. Asked for comment, he said: “They saw us removing it (the car) and they came. Right now, we’re trying to resolve it amicably.”
The Star couldn’t establish ownership of the car as there were no registration numbers on it.
A few hours earlier, another creditor appeared in court for a sequestration order against the ANC. For months, Indigo Logistics – a company contracted to handle the party’s courier services – was sent from pillar to post and told that the party was “currently experiencing a cash-flow constraint” when trying to recoup the R2.4m owed to it.
But the company’s Juliane Robinson said in an affidavit that the party preferred “certain creditors at the expense and to the prejudice of the remaining… creditors”.
“The respondent (ANC) continues to expend vast sums of money, if recent media reports are believed, on, for example, its 103 birthday celebrations in the Western Cape, and incurs expenses without regard to its former creditors,” she said.
It would be “to the advantage of creditors if the respondent is wound up, alternatively sequestrated, and a li- quidator or trustee appointed to investigate the affairs of the respondent” as the ANC had “insufficient assets to satisfy its liabilities”.
The Indigo Logistics matter comes just seven months after another service provider, M&M Marquee, launched an application for a final winding-up order against the ANC over a R7.4m debt.
At the ANC’s Mangaung conference in 2012, M&M Marquee had set up a marquee, with draping and decor, VIP toilets, carpeting and flooring, tables, chairs, lounge suites, air-conditioning, sound and stage, cutlery and crockery.
Indigo Logistics wants to be joined as second respondents to the M&M Marquee matter, which was dismissed as “frivolous” by the ANC’s treasurer-general, Zweli Mkhize.
Mkhize had said the party was unable to pay as there was a dispute over who the rightful owner of M&M was – with a third party having claimed ownership of the company.
Kodwa said on Tuesday: “We are aware of the matter. Our lawyers are dealing with it.”
The Star