Overview
- Afr iForum, which unveiled its dossier on Wednesday, March 25, accuses ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula of corruption, fraud and money laundering tied to a 2016 Dubai trip said to cost R680,000.
- Advocate Gerrie Nel said the NPA’s earlier decision not to prosecute was irrational, arguing the Hawks gave prosecutors a weak docket and that key corruption tests were misapplied.
- The group said it will file private prosecutions if the NPA does not act, a South African mechanism that lets a complainant take a case to court when prosecutors decline to pursue it.
- AfriForum plans to urge US lawmakers to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions, which target individuals with travel bans and asset freezes, and it warned that strained US ties could carry economic costs.
- Mbalula denied wrongdoing and sent a cease-and-desist before the briefing, and the ANC condemned the dossier as a partisan smear, noting that no charges have been filed.