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The Democratic Alliance will today write to the Public Protector and the Public Service Commission asking it to investigate the incident where ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema handed out 200 food parcels on behalf of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) under the ANC banner in Cape Town yesterday. Malema's behaviour is a clear conflation of party and state. The Sassa is a State institution funded by public money and tasked with providing South African citizens who qualify for social security, their services in a partisan and objective manner. The Sassa is not a political party, which has a particular constituency and agenda. The ANCYL is a political party. By doing Sassa's work it gives the impression to the public that these two different organisations are one and the same. That is to the detriment of best democratic practice and undermines people's inclination to view the State and the services it provides as neutral. Such is the blur between the ANC party, ANCYL and the State that Sassa's spokesperson Paseka Letsasi mistakenly described the ANCYL as a non-governmental organisation (NGO), a claim which the ANCYL had to embarrassingly distance itself from. ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu is quoted as saying about the incident: ‘There is nothing wrong with (the ANCYL) doing development work. If people want to eventually decide that they want to vote for the ANC it will be because the party is doing good work.' This sentiment goes to the heart of what is wrong with the ANC. It routinely fails to distinguish between its role as a political organisation and the role of the State. The ANCYL's behaviour is in direct contradiction of the code of conduct for public servants, which explicitly states that public servants must be ‘honest and accountable in dealing with public funds' and may only use funds for ‘authorized official purposes'. A DA government would, in contrast, never use State money or grants for political gain, because we recognize how crucial and life-sustaining the social grant safety net is to the poorest of our people. This is not the first time that the ANC has used State funds to further its agenda. During its election campaign, the ANC repeatedly touted the social grant system by handing out food parcels under the ANC banner. And in May this year Sassa's chief executive Fezile Makiwane authorized the release of R2.5 million to fund a lavish party for Jacob Zuma at his birthplace KwaNxamalala. The seriousness of this matter cannot be underestimated. The ANC has a long history of using food parcels, particularly during election time, both as a means of securing votes and intimidating people. We have what appears to be incontrovertible proof of it doing so again in the broad light of day. The Public Protector and the Public Service Commission must treat this matter as urgent and extremely serious. I will send through letters to each of them today asking them to put this matter at the top of their agenda. Their response needs to be decisive and prompt if we are to put an end to this kind of abuse. Finally the DA will take this matter up in Parliament. I will ask Sassa to appear before the Social Development Portfolio Committee to explain its actions. I will also submit a series of parliamentary questions to the minister about what action she intends to take against those individuals responsible for allowing the ANCYL to partake at the event.