- The ANC Youth League web page has been hacked and, for two weeks, has been linked to a hardcore pornographic site.
- It is being taken down as the party scrambles to fix the mess.
- This comes amid a payment battle between the ANC and a developer.
The ANC is in the process of taking down its youth league's web page after it was linked to a pornography website for more than two weeks.
The page is hosted on the party's website.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe told News24 that the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) web page was "hacked" and that the party was investigating the matter.
"The website has been hacked and we have taken necessary steps to deal with the situation which include taking it down."
The incident left viewers stunned on Tuesday morning.
News of the pornography link was first publicly reported on Twitter by the spokesperson for Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu, Nonceba Mhlauli.
Mhlauli blasted members of the National Youth Task Team (NYTT), which is tasked with organising the youth league's elective conference.
Lack of youthfulness
Mhlauli has been openly critical of the NYTT over its lack of youthfulness.
"The eldership is so useless that they couldn't pick this up. @ANCYL give us back our organization. Inohlule lento (you have lost it)."
But NYTT spokesperson Sizophila Mkhize said the NYTT could not be blamed for the incident and added that it knew about the hacking two weeks ago and immediately contacted the ANC about it.
Mkhize said the ANCYL was not able to regain control or upload content on the website since 2015 when the developer of the website blocked them.
"The developer claims that the ANC owes it outstanding payments so this has been a longstanding issue and they are refusing to hand over the website to the youth league."
News24 has seen a letter which the ANC's legal advisor wrote to the service provider to demand that the name and reputation of the party be protected.
In the letter, ANC legal advisor Krish Naidoo put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the service provider that had control of the website.
"The ANC would have delinked the porn site from the youth league website itself had [the service provider] honoured an arbitrator's award to hand over ownership of the ANC website to the ANC. This has not happened, and we place on record that there is no legal basis for [the service provider] not to return ownership possession and control of the ANC website, including the ANC Youth League."
Naidoo called on the service provider to hand control of the website back the ANCYL.
"Since [the service provider] continues to act in defiance of the award, the ANC calls on it and your good selves to take immediate action to urgently correct this grave attack on the integrity and good name of the ANC Youth League and the ANC."
News24 will reach out to the service provider for comment.
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