Resolve Communications executive chairman Tony Leon has strongly rejected allegations levelled against the public affairs firm, insisting that neither he nor the company has engaged in any unlawful conduct and warning that legal action is being considered over what he describes as defamatory claims.
In a statement issued on Monday, 30 June 2026, Leon said Resolve had become the target of allegations made by political figures and amplified by political parties amid growing scrutiny over lobbying activities linked to recent political developments. The controversy comes as public attention remains focused on allegations of undue influence over government officials and comparisons by some critics to the era of state capture.
Leon, a former DA leader and South African ambassador, said he had accepted public scrutiny throughout his career but drew the line at what he called false accusations against the company.
“I have spent the greater part of my life in the service of South Africa’s democracy,” Leon said. “Public life invites scrutiny, and rightly so. But scrutiny and falsehood are not the same thing, and I will not allow the latter to stand unanswered when it is directed at a company that employs good people doing entirely legitimate work.”
He argued that those accusing Resolve had failed to provide any evidence to support their claims.
“In recent days, Resolve Communications has been the subject of a series of allegations advanced by political figures and amplified by political parties. They have been gravely framed… What they have conspicuously lacked is the one thing that ought to accompany an accusation of wrongdoing: evidence. Not a single document, not a single unlawful act has been produced, simply because none exists.”
Leon maintained that Resolve has always operated lawfully and transparently, representing legitimate businesses seeking to engage government through recognised public affairs processes.
“Resolve has at all times acted lawfully, transparently and in accordance with the recognised standards of our profession,” he said. “We represent legitimate, law-abiding businesses… We help them engage government openly and on the merits of their case.”
Addressing suggestions that the firm influenced government decision-making, Leon rejected the allegations outright.
“We do not, and we cannot, direct the decisions of ministers or officials. We have never sought to,” he said. “Where we have requested a meeting on a client’s behalf and that request has been declined, we have respected the decision without complaint. A request, made and freely refused, is not corruption.”
Leon said he found comparisons between Resolve’s work and state capture particularly offensive.
“State capture was the criminal subversion of public institutions for private enrichment, conducted in secret and in defiance of the law,” he said. “The work of helping a lawful business make its case to government, in the open and on the record, is its precise opposite. To conflate the two is not merely inaccurate. It is an insult to the South Africans who suffered under the real thing.”
He also suggested the allegations were politically motivated, saying similar claims had previously been made against him and the company during a political dispute in 2019.
“I have seen this pattern before,” Leon said. “An identical claim was made against me and our firm in 2019, in the heat of a party dispute; it was untrue then, no charge ever followed, and it is no truer for being revived now.”
Leon concluded by saying Resolve welcomed fair, evidence-based scrutiny but would not remain silent in the face of false allegations.
“We are proud of our record and entirely comfortable with fair, fact-based scrutiny,” he said. “Where these falsehoods cross into defamation, we are considering our legal remedies.”
