AfriForum insists Mbalula has ‘criminal case to answer’ for Dubai trip
AfriForum's Private Prosecution Unit has described the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision not to prosecute ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula as “irrational and wrong in law”.
In a statement on Thursday, the lobby group said it believes Mbalula has a criminal case to answer.
This comes after the NPA decided not to prosecute Mbalula over money laundering accusations.
The allegations relate to a family trip worth R680 000 to Dubai in December 2016.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane referred the matter to the NPA after she found Mbalula, who was minister of sport at the time, went on a holiday partially financed by sports supplier Sedgars Sport.
The unit's spokesperson Barry Bateman said the NPA appears to have uncritically accepted Mbalula's version that the money for his holiday was not a gift.
"This is contrary to the findings of the Public Protector, who found after ‘having considered their submissions (Dockrat and Mbalula), I do not accept that the arrangement between them constituted a loan agreement. Had the transaction not been reported in the media, Mbalula would not have repaid the funds’," Bateman said.
He said they believe there is no excuse for the NPA not to prosecute Mbalula.
"While the unit also believes the payment was not a loan, the NPA’s position does not provide an excuse to not prosecute Mbalula. The definition of a ‘gratification’ in the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act is the following: ‘any donation, gift, loan, fee, reward, valuable security, property or interest in property of any description, whether movable or immovable or any other similar advantage’.
“The unit will now carefully consider its next step to ultimately ensure that justice is done,” Bateman added.
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