The ANC on Monday denied that it owes the taxman more than R100m.

In a statement, the ruling party dismissed as false a report by the Daily Maverick that it had been given 10 days by the SA Revenue Service to settle the bill.

The report said Sars had in December turned to the high court to force the ANC to cough up. The court reportedly issued a civil judgment instructing the sheriff to attach assets to the value of R102,546,580.76 in 10 days. The Daily Maverick said it was unclear whether the assets were seized by the sheriff as per the order.

But the ANC said it was “neither aware nor informed of such an ultimatum by Sars and therefore dismisses such inaccurate, malicious, dubious and divisive media reports with the contempt they deserve.” 

The party said that while it did owe Sars some money, it was a private matter.

“Matters of taxation of the ANC are private and handled by the treasurer-general’s office which engages with Sars from time to time on such affairs,” the ANC said.

The party said it had payment arrangements with Sars to clear the arrears.

“The ANC will continue to pay all taxes and debts owed to Sars and certainly finds the allegations of tax evasion rendered against the movement abhorrent and irresponsible,” the party said. 

Until just a few weeks ago, the party was battling to pay salaries and was at one point three months behind in salary payments. 

At the time, TimesLIVE reported that the ANC had a salary bill of more than R12m. It also owed millions in provident fund debt, as well as recurring PAYE tax debt and undisclosed amounts in medical aid and UIF payments.