The African Nations Congress said it had missed a court date over election campaign debt because senior officials had not seen the summons.
The Sunday Times reported that earlier this month advertising agency Ogilvy was granted a default judgement against the party for about R17,5-million in the High Court in Johannesburg.
The amount was apparently the balance of R56-million owed to the advertising agency for the party’s media campaign for the 2009 national elections.
On Sunday, the party released a statement that said the summons served in December 2009 by Ogilvy “did not reach the attention” of the ANC executive committee and officials.
“The ANC has learnt that these summons were left at the security personnel at our offices in Luthuli House,” said ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.
“Because of the unprofessional manner in which these summons were delivered to us, it made it impossible for us to know about the court date, thereby our inability to defend ourselves.”
Mthembu said an investigation was under way to find out whether legal procedures were followed in delivering the summons.
He said the party’s lawyers were also examining the judgement against the ANC.
“The ANC is currently paying Ogilvy for the services rendered to it during the 2009 election campaign,” said Mthembu.
The Sunday Times reported that the advertising agency filed court papers against the ruling party in November last year, after attempts to get the party to settle the bill apparently failed.
When the case came to court earlier this month, the ANC did not oppose the matter and Ogilvy was granted the default judgement of R17,5-million plus interest and legal costs, after taking into account a R3-million payment by the ANC in December. – Sapa