AfriForum CEO, Kallie Kriel. Photo: @kalliekriel
Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum said the unwillingness of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula for his R680 000 Dubai trip in 2016 was irrational and a political obstruction, damaging the country’s reputation.
AfriForum published a dossier on Wednesday accusing Mbalula of alleged money laundering, fraud and corruption as well as reckless statements insulting major trading partners such as the United States.
“We know what the implications would be of further punitive measures by the United States against this country,” said Kallie Kriel, the chief executive of AfriForum. “We’ve tried to avert that by trying to find solutions to this international friction that we are seeing.
“But if these efforts are being sabotaged as Mr Mbalula is doing, the country will bear the brunt of his reckless behaviour.”
Afriforum argues that Mbalula should be held accountable locally by the NPA and internationally through US sanctions. The lobby group said it had made failed attempts to speak to the ANC about the economic costs to Mbalula’s ambitions for presidency.
“It seems like Mr Mbalula is hell-bent for the benefit of his own aspirations to become the leader of the ANC to harm the country. That is why we are taking this stance,” said Kriel.
The dossier would assist in arguing for private prosecutions and for US lawmakers to sanction Mbalula under the Magnitsky Act, which allows individual sanctions, he said.
“At the moment, AfriForum, under the Solidarity movement, is working very hard to try and solve the conflict with the US. That’s why we were in the US to ask, ‘do not punish South Africa if you are angry with ANC politicians’,” Kriel said.
On Tuesday, ahead of AfriForum’s dossier briefing, Mbalula denied any wrongdoing and stated that he would not be “intimidated” by a “political stunt”. He demanded AfriForum retract its allegations and he sent a cease and desist letter to the lobby group.
“We place on record that our client has not been charged or prosecuted in relation to the unfounded allegations set out and vehemently denies all of the baseless allegations in this regard,” said Mbalula’s counsel.
Speaking at Wednesday’s briefing, Ernst van Zyl, AfriForum’s head of public relations, said Mbalula was infamous for a trail of corruption allegations, poor service delivery, sabotage of diplomatic relations with the US and racist hatred for white South Africans.
He said Mbalula’s record included the largest spike in murders, gender-based violence cases and cash-in-transit heists while he was minister of police from 2017 to 2018.
Mbalula oversaw the collapse of rail infrastructure with a decline of passenger trips from 209 million to 39 million while he was minister of transport from 2019 to 2023, Van Zyl said.
“And now under his watch as ANC secretary general it also appears this reverse Midas touch has followed him. It is reported the ANC is now ranked as the 16th most corrupt organisation in the world. This happened under his watch,” said van Zyl.
He accused Mbalula of policy extremism in calling for expropriation without compensation, the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank and for praising Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF land policy.
“Mbalula has expressed his and the ANC’s support multiple times for regimes with horrific human rights records such as the ones in North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran,” Van Zyl said.
He criticised Mbalula’s meeting with leaders of Hamas and his support for former International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor in her genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“In March 2026 Mbalula accused, without evidence, the new US ambassador Brent Bozell of attending a meeting with the ANC while drunk. No evidence provided, just a slanderous lie.”
Gerrie Nel, AfriForum’s head of private prosecutions, said it has been seeking to hold Mbalula accountable for his 2016 Dubai holiday, which cost R680 000 since January 2022.
The trip, he said, was allegedly paid for by Sedgars’ sport director Yusuf Dockrat, a supplier to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympics committee.
“We are saying to the NPA, because now we have the case docket, your decision not to prosecute is irrational and is not in terms of the law. It is a deliberate misunderstanding of the definition of corruption,” said Nel.
He likened Mbalula’s case to recent testimony from the Madlanga commission where an alleged R70 000 loan to the South African Police Service’s head of organised crime, Richard Shibiri, by businessperson and alleged leader of the Big Five cartel Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala was paid after the fact.
Nel drew similarities with how Shibiri started making payments to Matlala after a police raid to make it seem like a loan, with how Mbalula made payments to the travel agent after his Dubai trip was reported in the media.
“I suggest to you that once there were these questions by the media, you saw the media was catching on to you and you decided the money that had been paid to you, not as a loan I suggest, you should now pay back to Mr Dockrat and Sedgars so as to to make it look like a loan,” said Nel.
AfriForum has also opened a crimen injuria case against Mbalula for statements against Bergview College principal Jaco Pieterse, who was falsely accused of raping a 7-year-old girl. Nel said AfriForum was looking at developing the law to privately prosecute politicians such as Mbalula for corruption.
Kriel noted that while AfriForum had received the cease and desist letter from Mbalula’s lawyers, they decided to go ahead to stop Mbalula from becoming president.
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