BREAKING NEWS: AfriForum Sticks to Guns, Releases "Mbalula Corruption Dossier" Amid Legal Threats by Fikile Mbalula

AfriForum is pushing ahead with its plans to release a dossier on ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, despite receiving a legal warning from his lawyers. The civil rights organisation is set to hold a press conference tomorrow, where it will outline allegations of corruption, fraud, and money laundering linked to Mbalula's 2016 family holiday to Dubai.

Mbalula's lawyers have accused AfriForum of preparing to disseminate "unfounded allegations" and warned that the planned briefing could amount to defamation. However, AfriForum's communications head, Barry Bateman, has vowed that the organisation will not be intimidated, saying "ANC SG Fikile Mbalula has threatened to gag us... We're not going away".

The controversy surrounds Mbalula's luxury Dubai holiday, which reportedly cost approximately R684,000 while he served as Sports Minister. AfriForum alleges that part of the trip was funded through irregular cash payments by Yusuf Dockrat, a director of Sedgars Sport, a supplier to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) at the time.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute Mbalula in 2023, a decision AfriForum has described as "patently irrational" and possibly selective. AfriForum obtained the police docket in 2024 and formally asked the NPA to reconsider prosecution last October.