Johannesburg - Following his presentation in Parliament on funding for the governing African National Congress (ANC), treasurer general Zweli Mkhize says his party funders donate in good faith and without any expectations from the governing party.
He said the ANC took party funding seriously after adopting a stance at the Mangaung elective conference in 2012, and created legal framework to ensure that party funding has accountability and integrity for parties.
"We receive donations based on good faith...they are not transactional, no conditions attached or based on aiming to do business with government . Anyone donating to us as per our fundraising policy, is received from legitimate business, or a properly obtained job and remuneration," Mkhize told reporters after addressing a women's luncheon organised by the Progressive Business Forum (PBF) in Johannesburg.
"Donations are known to the leadership, you have obviously not seen any [leaked Gupta] emails linking the party. We also want to make it clear that whatever that is happening out there, the ANC and treasury office are not part of the business activities mentioned, and so people must not assume that the ANC is involved..we take the allegations seriously but we are not entangled in them."
He said sometimes "pretenders and fixers" emerge claiming to be advocating for the ANC.
"Someone somewhere can claim that Luthuli House knows about a transaction...if you hear that kind of speak, know that they do not represent the ANC. As ANC, such claims are important for us to enable us to take action."
However, in his presentation to ad hoc committee in Parliament on Wednesday, Mkhize admitted that the controversial Gupta family has donated funds to the governing party. Although he was unable to say for how long the Gupta funding had been ongoing, he pointed out that the donations were credible.
"I do not want an impression to be created that we are funded by the Guptas...they have made a donation, we wrote to them, thanked them appreciating their generosity. I haven't sat down to check how much they contributed or for how long. As I said we do not expect any email to spring out out there involving the party."
The committee investigates party funding following Economic Freedom Fighters' MP Marshall Dlamini's claim that the Guptas footed the bill for the ANC's 2012 conference.