The ANC on Friday night said reports that Russia has run disinformation campaigns against opposition parties in South Africa are “entirely baseless”.
It comes after an investigation by Forbidden Stories was published earlier in March, claiming that secret meetings took place between a Russian agent and ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula about smear campaigns against the DA ahead of the 2024 elections.
The Russian campaign reportedly targeted DA leaders Helen Zille and John Steenhuisen, and labelled the party as “racist” and the “white party”.
ANC ‘rejects’ interference allegations
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu, however, said the party “rejects these allegations in the strongest terms”. She also denied that any ANC electoral campaign has received foreign funding.
The party has also previously been accused of getting funds from Iran.
“There has been no collaboration, coordination or engagement with any foreign intelligence service, including those of the Russian Federation or the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Bhengu said.
“There has equally been no external influence, neither financial, strategic nor political, on the ANC’s internal democratic processes or electoral outcomes. These claims are entirely baseless, devoid of evidence and form part of a broader campaign of misinformation aimed at undermining the credibility of the movement and eroding public confidence in democratic institutions.”
DA accuses ANC of undermining SA’s foreign policy
The DA’s Ryan Smith recently accused Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Thandi Moraka, of undermining South Africa’s foreign policy and international reputation when she dismissed the claims of Russian interference as farcical.
“This further demonstrates South Africa’s foreign policy under the ANC, which has adopted a dangerous Orwellian approach of truth-is-lies, and where our country approaches international relations by flatly denying reality and operating in a world that only exists in the ANC’s imagination,” said Smith.
He added that the “targeted cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns” from Russia were a threat to South Africa’s national security.
“It is deeply concerning to see a sitting cabinet minister in such a critical portfolio openly deny our global reality,” he said.
“Today’s session has only reinforced what many South Africans have come to understand: that the ANC exists in a world far removed from the realities of its people, or from the very real dangers posed to countries with whom we should show solidarity.”
ANC defends international relations policy
Bhengu, however, defended the ANC’s policy on international relations.
“It must be understood that the ANC, as a historic liberation movement with deep roots in international solidarity, has always maintained principled global relations grounded in anti-imperialism, mutual respect and the sovereign equality of nations,” she said.
“Engagements with international stakeholders, including academics, journalists, diplomats and policy institutions, is both legitimate and necessary in a democratic society. To distort such engagements into allegations of collusion is not only intellectually dishonest but reflects a deliberate attempt to weaponise misinformation in pursuit of narrow political ends.”
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