Polokwane - Mo Shaik has denied with suppressed anger any links with the company in charge of the voting process at the African National Congress conference in Polokwane.

Rumours have been doing the rounds for some days among President Thabo Mbeki's supporters that Shaik, convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik's brother, and Cyril Beeka, who owns security companies, are the owners of The Elexions Agency, which is in charge of electing a new ANC leader.

Beeka also has been in the news because of his alleged ties with the Cape underworld.

The agency is running the voting for the first time and it's also the first time that votes for the ANC leaders will be counted electronically.

In the past, the elections have been run by the Independent Electoral Institute of South Africa (IEISA).

Shaik, who has ties with ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, said he planned to complain to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the umbrella body for The Elexions Agency, about the rumours.

'Have no business ties with conference'

The IEC could not be contacted on Monday to confirm if a complaint had been laid.

On Monday, Shaik said: "Don't you think that would have been the most idiotic thing imaginable?"

"I have no business ties of any nature to this conference, not for the provision of beans or anything else, or even the air that the people are breathing here," he said.

He said that, as a result of the National Prosecuting Authority's investigation into his business dealings and those of Schabir, his business affairs were among some of "the most closely audited" in the country.

He dismissed the rumours as "extremely malicious" and said there also were SMSs doing the rounds that he owned the company that was supplying the ballot papers.

Sources in the Mbeki camp said on Monday night that Shaik's involvement in The Elexions Agency had been confirmed by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

They said it could provide grounds to support the ANC Youth League's request that all votes should be counted manually, a point of contention between the Zuma and Mbeki camps.

Thoko Didiza, head of the ANC's registration and accreditation committee, said at a media conference on Monday that the ANC had picked up problems with the registration of delegates who were eligible to vote.

In a few cases, duplicated accreditation cards had been issued to delegates, but that had been rectified, reports Liezel de Lange.

Providing security services

Didiza said the cards would be scanned during the voting process for security purposes.

Shaik has been seen at the ANC conference and, although he was not there on Monday night, he said he would return later in the week.

Beeka did not respond to enquiries on Monday night, but Die Burger was told that he'd been registered to provide security services at the conference.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe's phone was switched off.

Voting for the new ANC leaders began on Tuesday.

With acknowledgement to Carien du Plessis and News24.