Yesterday it emerged in the City Press that none of the companies which ANC Youth League president Julius Malema owns or has a share in are tax-compliant. This is because not a single one of them was issued with a tax clearance certificate (TCC).
This is perhaps the most significant development in the entire Malema saga so far. Without a TCC, no firm is entitled to receive a tender. This means that it is not just one or two of Malema's tenders that might have been obtained in dubious circumstances. It means all of them are potentially legally null and void.
If that is the case - and the Youth League's silence on these accusations is deafening - he will need to hand back every cent he has earned from these companies, and this raises serious questions, with potentially severe ramifications in terms of criminal charges.
The problem can be simply put as follows: On the one hand, Malema's companies have been awarded tenders, and ostensibly did so by claiming they were in possession of TCCs. Godfrey Modjadji of the Greater Letaba Municipality, for instance, reportedly said that Malema's company did present them with a TCC, before any contract was signed. On the other hand, it is now being reported that Malema's firms never obtained TCCs from SARS. Notably, that is an accusation that Malema has not denied.
These two states of affairs are incompatible. They must necessary imply one of two things: The first possibility is that SARS, or an individual at SARS, may have wrongly issued Malema's firms with TCCs, in which case that would be evidence of either corruption or gross ineptitude. Alternatively, there is the possibility that no such TCC was issued, but that one ‘magically appeared'. That would raise the possibility of fraud. Either way, something has gone very wrong with the tender process, and there needs to be explanations, and urgent investigations.
Malema must also be criminally charged with tax evasion if he has indeed not paid his income taxes. Again, the public will read a great deal from Malema's rare bout of reticence, when faced with this accusation. He has not said a word to deny this very serious accusation that has come his way. He must be charged and he must be prosecuted. He cannot be allowed to get away with it.
Malema has become the epitome of what is wrong with the ANC. All across South Africa, municipalities are failing to deliver services because, like Malema, they have been awarded tenders through crooked means or sheer cronyism. Our service delivery crisis is a direct consequence of people like Malema, who only think about themselves, and not the good of the people. Now he does not even appear to pay his taxes. Again, it is the poor, and all those who rely on the government, who are the victims.
Statement issued by Khume Ramulifho, MPL, Democratic Alliance national youth spokesperson, March 8 2010
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