There is a veil of secrecy around how the ANC will reimburse the state for the costs of transporting a group of party bigwigs to Zimbabwe in a South African Air Force jet.
The ANC and the department of defence this week did not answer questions on the amount the ruling party must pay and how the bill will be settled.
Sunday Times has been asking questions concerning the debt to the defence department and the ANC for the past two weeks.
Last week, defence spokesperson Sphiwe Dlamini said the department had still to quantify the amount.
This week, he initially indicated his willingness to share information with the paper, but subsequently ignored several attempts to follow up on his promise.
"I will have to check with the air force what has been prepared," Dlamini said on Wednesday.
He was asked whether the department had quantified the amount to be paid by the ANC and if the party had been invoiced.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said a question about whether the party had quantified what it owed the state was "unreasonable".
He said this was an internal party matter.
"We had agreed that a reimbursement will be done because we understood there were concerns raised by the public. How the ANC goes about doing that is really an internal party matter," Mabe said.
"The ANC came out, humbled itself before South Africans and took responsibility that, OK, because of these issues, the ANC will do a reimbursement."
He added that if the ANC wanted to communicate payment issues, it would issue a statement. "It's a political party matter. The organisation has already communicated what it is going to be doing. When you ask questions that come across as unreasonable, I won't know what to say."
He said this was tantamount to asking the party how it conducted its fundraising.
On September 11, President Cyril Ramaphosa directed defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to furnish him, within 48 hours, with a detailed report on the circumstances that led to her sharing a flight to Zimbabwe with the senior ANC delegation.
This was at the height of a public backlash, with opposition parties demanding answers from the president.
Two weeks later the president is yet to act on the report.
"The presidency will comment after the president has considered the report submitted by the minister," Ramaphosa's acting spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, said this week.
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