Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League has paid more than R8 million to its creditors to avoid being liquidated.
The ANCYL reached an out-of-court settlement with its creditors – Z2 Presentations, trading as University Events Management, and Palanquin Hospitality Management Company – and this was endorsed by the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday.
The R8.5m involves only the two, as the third creditor, Abel Zolani Dlamini, was not legally represented in court.
Z2 Presentations was suing the league for just over R15m while Palanquin was suing it for R1.5m.
The ANCYL then agreed to pay half the amount on each lawsuit.
The Star understands that the ANCYL agreed to pay the original default judgment of R7.7m. The default judgment was made in the Bloemfontein High Court in October 2008.
It took the ANCYL more than six years to settle the debts, which it incurred during its elective national conference in Bloemfontein in 2008.
In January this year, the money owed to the two creditors stood at R16.5m.
The high court was told that the parties had agreed by consent to wind up the provisional order discharged in November last year.
Z2 Presentations and Palanquin also confirmed that they had withdrawn their liqui-dation application against the league.
No party was ordered to pay the costs of the legal action.
All these parties refused to disclose settlement costs, but The Star has learnt of the details of the settlement through several sources.
ANCYL national convener Mzwandile Masina denied making the financial settlement to the creditors. “It was a legal issue and the settlement was confidential,” he said.
He maintained that the league paid no money to any creditor, adding the settlement would give them the opportunity to focus on the elections in May and the ANCYL’s national elective conference in September.
Z2 Presentations’ lawyer, Phillip Patlansky, said their settlement was “commercially acceptable” and conceded that, due to the protracted nature of the civil case, it would have cost his client millions to trace the league’s assets.
The Star