The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) says it has withdrawn its corruption case against the suspended party leader, Luthando Mbinda, in order to save funds.
The party’s spokesperson, Kenneth Mokgatlhe, explained to Political Analysis South Africa on Monday, 23 April 2018 that the party has realised that it is spending “a lot of money in the litigation and the elections are approaching so it’s better that we [the PAC] keep that money and we use it for the campaign and registration with the IEC in order to partake in all provinces.”
Mokgatlhe says the PAC has withdrawn its litigation against Mbinda and has instead handed over the matter to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), which has since opened a case of fraud. He added that the case was at an advanced stage.
Mbinda was suspended from the party in 2017 after he had been accused of “bringing the party into disrepute.” Mokgatlhe charges that Mbinda was also found to have been using party funds that were allocated by parliament for his personal use instead of using it for party activities and the payment of staff salaries.
The party also says the Hawks have thus far only managed to close the bank account that received money from Parliament in February this year, and that Mbinda continues to receive his salary as a Member of Parliament.
Additionally, the PAC alleges the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, has refused to honour the PAC’s request to remove Mbinda as their representative.
“We’ll ensure that we recover all the money that he has spent previously, and we’ll ensure that Parliament has to account for what Baleka Mbete is currently doing because it is unfair,” he said.
