The allegations emerged when Bolani, who worked on the campaign, took the ANC to court for nonpayment.<\/p>\n
Included in court papers was Bolani\u2019s report, which detailed how the war room planted fake Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) posters, produced a news site and a chat show and used a network of social media \u201cinfluencers\u201d to influence voter sentiment towards the ANC \u2013 without revealing its hand.<\/p>\n
In response, both the ANC and activist Shaka Sisulu, the other alleged war room architect, tried to distance the party from the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir activities were not sanctioned by the ANC … We distance ourselves [from] any insinuation that any such campaign was known to or approved by the ANC,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n
However, recordings of the meeting on November 25, as well as two other meetings at Luthuli House, suggest that the ANC or Jacobs \u2013 or both \u2013 lied about the extent of their involvement.<\/p>\n
- \n
- To listen to the recordings click here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
*The recordings have been cut to when the discussions with Ignatius Jacobs start.<\/em><\/p>\n
The recordings show:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- The war room was set up specifically to \u201cdig at [the ANC\u2019s] opponents\u201d;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- The initial R50 million budget was not, as Sisulu claimed a few days ago, \u201ca figment of someone\u2019s imagination\u201d; and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- Jacobs held meetings with war room members during the campaign to get feedback, but became frustrated when he did not see the desired results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Jacobs, through his attorney, denied any impropriety and said he was willing to subject himself to an investigation and a disciplinary process by the ANC, adding that he was willing to go on paid leave, in order to focus on clearing his name.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Read Jacobs attorney letter here<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Pressed demand<\/strong>
\nBolani said she was instructed not to have direct contact with Luthuli House during the campaign, which ended prematurely amid money troubles and apparent mismanagement. She reported to Sisulu and Nkadimeng.<\/p>\nAs a result, her first meeting at Luthuli House with ANC officials, where she pressed her demand for payment, took place more than three months after the elections, on November 21.<\/p>\n
Bolani recorded the meeting on her cellphone. Jacobs and Nkadimeng were present.<\/p>\n
What is immediately apparent is that Jacobs is not shocked by the campaign\u2019s existence, but concerned that money from ANC donors may have been misspent.<\/p>\n
Nkadimeng starts the meeting: \u201cThe reason we\u2019re primarily here is it has to do with Sihle Bolani\u2019s company, SBC, and KTI [broadcast personality Phat Joe\u2019s company, which also participated] \u2026 He also sent me an invoice of R2 million.<\/p>\n
“They\u2019re supposed to have been paid \u2026 We know that money did get paid, I did raise money, I raised R11 million \u2026 [but] we know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs replies: \u201cWhat I know is that even the work that was asked was never done. Phat Joe was coming with Shaka. I kept saying, \u2018What are you doing, show me what you are doing because I don\u2019t see it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
What went wrong<\/strong>
\nLater in the same meeting, Jacobs complains he was being hauled over the coals because Bolani approached minister in the presidency Jeff Radebe to ask for her bill to be paid.<\/p>\n\u201cNow I\u2019m made out as some bad guy who was trying to create a team that must just help us with the EFF and DA in particular…<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we had teams, but this team was set up \u2026 to just dig at our opponents. It did not do that, and how long have I been trying to get them to give me reports, even during the campaign? It never came.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nkadimeng agrees: \u201cI said to Sihle, we will settle this \u2013 and I also spoke to Joe \u2013 at whatever cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs closed the meeting by asking Bolani to produce a report on the campaign detailing what was done and what went wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must have that report and it must be honest. I\u2019m not going to tell comrade Jeff that this work was done when it was not done,\u201d Jacobs says.<\/p>\n
Bolani said she emailed Radebe her report on November 24, and the following day delivered a copy to Jacobs in his office.<\/p>\n
Black-ops campaign<\/strong>
\nThe fiercest resistance from the ANC against amaBhungane\u2019s investigation has been to the allegation that the war room engaged in \u201cblack-ops\u201d activities.<\/p>\n\u201cBlack ops\u201d is a military term referring to secret operations that conceal who is really behind them.<\/p>\n
Producing fake EFF posters \u2013 as the war room appears to have done \u2013 would fit this description, but the ANC is adamant: \u201cThe ANC does not need [to engage] nor has it ever engaged in any clandestine \u2018black ops\u2019 to woo voters,\u201d it said in its statement.<\/p>\n
However, Jacobs reveals a different vision for the war room in a recording from a third meeting, on December 9.<\/p>\n
He told Bolani: \u201cI, personally, was trained in propaganda, deception, subterfuge, political warfare, spy works \u2013 I know what must be done. But I left it.<\/p>\n
“I thought Joe [Nkadimeng] and Shaka [Sisulu] [would] be okay. If I had the resources, we [would] be way ahead now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs suggests such tactics are necessary to counter a media onslaught.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the problem in this country is that the public discourse is run by white capital \u2026 I know what they are capable of \u2013 they are racist, they are fascist \u2013 but we are not running the media space \u2026 and that influences sentiment, that influences opinion \u2026 If we don\u2019t change this discourse, we\u2019ll be [gone], we\u2019ll be dead,\u201d Jacobs says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you pick up South African [media], especially print \u2013 social media, television, radio we\u2019re still okay, but print, Jesus…\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers<\/strong>
\nIn Jacobs\u2019 affidavit, submitted to court on Tuesday, he claimed Bolani misunderstood that she was a volunteer, but \u201cpurely as a gesture of goodwill\u201d he agreed to a R1 million settlement: \u201c[Bolani], like all other volunteers, would have received payment for disbursements\u2026 “At a meeting between [Bolani] and [myself] on December 9 2016, it became apparent [she] misunderstood that she was expected to volunteer her services to the marketing campaign.<\/p>\n“Purely for the sake of settlement, [I] undertook to pay [Bolani] the sum of R1 million by December 31 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, at no point during the recordings does Jacobs or Nkadimeng suggest Bolani was a volunteer.<\/p>\n
During the December 9 meeting, Jacobs asks Bolani to bear with him as he tries to source funds to pay her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand the way you\u2019ve been frustrated by Shaka and Joe, [but you] can\u2019t put us in the same boat, we are part of the party apparatus, in other words, bureaucrats,\u201d Jacobs says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve started talking to other people, I\u2019ve had two meetings now asking if they can help me. Quickest I can solve your problem is we agree on one-m [R1 million].\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs proposed the R1 million settlement, down from Bolani\u2019s full demand of R2.3 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I agree to one-m, when do I get it?\u201d Bolani asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least let\u2019s say until the end of this month,\u201d Jacobs replies.<\/p>\n
The ham sandwich<\/strong>
\nNkadimeng denies being a central war room player.<\/p>\n\u201cI was just [the] ham in the sandwich,\u201d he told amaBhungane via SMS on Friday. \u201cMy intrinsic value-add to the [local government elections] was to volunteer for my beloved movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Mr Jacobs and Ms [Bolani] can give you a helicopter view of their war room operation with Ogilvy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ogilvy & Mather \u2013 contracted by the ANC for its election campaigns \u2013 has denied involvement in the war room, following initial discussions.<\/p>\n
Bolani says she was mostly engaged in project management, but Sisulu\u2019s team carried out the more controversial aspects.<\/p>\n
Detailed questions were sent to ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa on Friday afternoon. He had not replied by the time of going to print.<\/p>\n
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\nThe amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Bean amaB supporter<\/a> and help us domore. Know more? Send us <\/em>a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Secret recordings reveal key ANC manager\u2019s hand in \u2018black-ops\u2019 campaign<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30686,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4570\/revisions\/30686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Read Jacobs attorney letter here<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Jacobs held meetings with war room members during the campaign to get feedback, but became frustrated when he did not see the desired results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The initial R50 million budget was not, as Sisulu claimed a few days ago, \u201ca figment of someone\u2019s imagination\u201d; and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The war room was set up specifically to \u201cdig at [the ANC\u2019s] opponents\u201d;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n