Johannesburg - The Economic Freedom Fighters declined to comment on Wednesday on the status of party leader Julius Malema's R16 million SA Revenue Service tax bill.
“I cannot answer that as I do not have information on that,” EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.
“I can tell you that Malema is going to Parliament.”
The EFF won 25 seats in Parliament after garnering over one million votes in the general elections last week.
It was reported that if Malema was sequestrated before the general elections took place, he could not become a member of Parliament in terms of Section 47(c) of the Constitution.
A trust fund, called the JSM Trust, was set up in April to raise funds for Malema.
Its chairwoman Mandisa Mashego said she was not in a position to disclose how much money had been raised so far.
“That is confidential information and I am not allowed to do that, I am also protected by the law,” she said.
She said the fundraising would start soon after the new government was sworn in.
“There have been campaigns and the general elections as you know, we are finalising our next leg of raising funds,” Mashego said.
Malema is due to appear in the High Court in Pretoria on May 26 to fight a provisional sequestration order against him.
In February, Judge Bill Prinsloo said in his ruling that Malema and anyone else who did not want the order to be made final had until 10am on May 26 to give reasons as to why this should not happen.
The EFF said then that Malema would fight the sequestration.
“Before May 26, the commander-in-chief (Malema) will challenge the provisional sequestration and if not successful, we shall appeal the decision until the highest court of the land,” Ndlozi said then in reaction to the ruling.
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay said the revenue collector would not comment on Malema's tax affairs.
“In Sars's view, the taxpayer would be the best-placed person to provide an update on his tax dispute with Sars.”
According to court papers, Malema owed R16m plus interest after failing to submit tax returns between 2006 and 2010.
In 2010, Sars contacted Malema about his failure to submit tax returns. It took Malema 18 months, after many attempts by Sars, to file his outstanding returns.
Malema also failed to register the Ratanang Trust for tax purposes, and Sars had to do this on his behalf.
Sars attached some of Malema's property to recoup the tax money he owed, and in May last year Malema's incomplete mansion in Sandton, Johannesburg, was sold on auction for R5.9m.
His farm in Limpopo fetched R2.5m at an auction in June. Several of his household goods were also auctioned off.
Sapa