African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) deputy president Andile Lungisa gatecrashed a recent meeting of young African leaders hosted by United States President Barack Obama — and then handed the bill of almost R100Â 000 to the South African taxpayer.
A war of words has now erupted between him and the Americans, who claim that he was not invited to the event, while he insists that he was an invited guest.
At issue is a three-day conference staged by Obama for more than 100 young African leaders earlier this month in Washington.
Lungisa, also chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), was not a delegate or an invited guest at the Young African Leaders’ Forum, according to the US Embassy, but the NYDA paid R80Â 974 for his business-class flight and R10Â 190 for his accommodation.
The Mail & Guardian confirmed this from sources in the NYDA, South African Airways and Travel Vision, one of two travel agents that helped with the bookings.
Travel Vision confirmed receiving two payments for Lungisa’s overseas trip, one on August 4 and the second on August 17 by electronic transfer.
Lungisa said he went to Washington to represent the African Union-affiliated Pan-African Youth Union (PYU), on which he also serves as deputy president.
Lungisa initially claimed the PYU had carried the costs of his trip, but when the M&G approached him again with information, he admitted the NYDA had paid for it. He claimed there was nothing untoward about this, as the agency is an associate of the PYU. “If you are the president of a republic and you become SADC chair, your country pays for you when you do SADC work. I’m seconded by the country to the PYU. We pay for all the activities of the PYU.”
He showed the M&G an email dated July 20 from the US assistant secretary of state, Johnnie Carson, confirming Lungisa’s participation, with a PYU leader from Ethiopia, Yohannes Mezgebe. However, a spokesperson for the US embassy, Elizabeth Trudeau, confirmed that Lungisa had gatecrashed the conference. “While Mr Lungisa was not an official delegate, the US State Department was able to facilitate his participation in a number of events during the conference,” said Trudeau. The embassy denied that the PYU was invited to the event.
Intervention
Sources familiar with the details said the South African authorities were called and their intervention secured Lungisa access to the event.
Though the US embassy played down the incident, sources said the Americans had been irritated by Lungisa’s uninvited appearance.
Embassies across Africa each selected three candidates based on the White House criteria, which required them to be leaders in civil society movements, NGOs or businesses.
At the three-day event, delegates had the opportunity to hold a town hall meeting with Obama and meet US legislators and community groups.
The three young leaders representing South Africa were filmmaker Palesa Shongwe, Lesego Sekano, international relations officer of the National Union of Mineworkers and Frederick Swaniker, founder and chief executive of the African Leadership Academy.
Shongwe said delegates knew of Lungisa’s gatecrashing, while NYDA sources described Lungisa as a “globetrotter” who travelled the world without any consideration for the costs the agency carried.
Lungisa initially told the M&G that the Americans were unhappy with his presence at the conference after security checks revealed that he was ANC Youth League deputy president.
Trudeau denied this, saying: “His credentials were questioned [not] because he is an ANCYL leader, but because he was not an official delegate.”
Sekano backed Trudeau, saying: “I’m also an NUM leader, which belongs to Cosatu and is obviously politically aligned because it is an ally of the ANC.”