AfriForum hits back with Elvis retort
2011-07-27 22:25
Johannesburg - Non-governmental civil rights organisation AfriForum jokingly said on Wednesday that it expects the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) to announce that "Elvis Presley is alive and is employed by us".
AfriForum was responding to comments by the youth league earlier that it was part of "big business and Afrikaner right-wing capital" in their "smear campaign" against the ANCYL's president, Julius Malema.
The ANCYL claimed that the relationship between Media24 "and right-wing formations, in particular AfriForum", should be explained because AfriForum had been running "STOP MALEMA" adverts in Media24 publications for free "for many months now".
"We've heard many conspiracy theories, but this is now our favourite one," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE.
"As a result of the ANCYL's comments today, we are sending them a friendly invite to come to our headquarters to study our books so that they can see for themselves that we have never had any preferential treatment from any media outlet - and that we pay for all our advertising," Kriel added.
"We would like the same invitation from the ANCYL so that we can view their financial statements. But if they say 'no', our offer for them to visit us still stands."
Corruption
At the weekend, AfriForum opened a corruption case against the ANCYL's president, following City Press's report that Malema had a trust fund for deposits from businessmen in Limpopo.
AfriForum laid the complaint in accordance with the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004.
One of SA's largest banks, Absa, was also fingered by the ANCYL.
"What is the role of Absa, whose CEO, Maria Ramos, has publicly opposed the policy positions of the ANCYL, particularly on the nationalisation of mines?" the ANCYL asked.
The bank said: "Absa will not comment on the youth league statement, safe to say that we uphold the commitment contained in our duty to respect client confidentiality and will never deviate from that."
