Dion George says email proves Resolve Communications ran negative campaign against him

Former environment minister Dion George says an email from Resolve Communications is the evidence he lacked that the firm ran a negative campaign against him after he refused to meet its client.

What the email shows

According to IOL, the email, seen by IOL and confirmed by Resolve, is dated September 22 2025 and was sent by Resolve account manager Victoria Tompkins. The message offered a news publication an opinion piece written by Stacey Jansen, a director of Redisa, and argued there was a leadership vacuum in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

George: email proves a campaign

George told IOL he had previously suspected Resolve was running a negative campaign against him but had no evidence. He said the September 22 email was the proof he had been missing.

“I said I thought Resolve was running a negative campaign against me, but I had no evidence,”

He added:

“Now I do.”

George told IOL he had consistently refused to meet Redisa while it was in active litigation with his department and that Resolve had tried to facilitate meetings. He said that when he refused, Resolve ran a negative campaign.

Resolve and Tony Leon respond

Tompkins told IOL the claim that Resolve ran a campaign was “a fiction” and part of an attempt to smear the firm. She said Resolve, like other public relations and public affairs firms, submitted opinion pieces on behalf of its clients and confirmed the piece had been sent to a news publication on behalf of Jansen.

“This entire line of enquiry has no basis in fact and appears to be part of an obvious attempt to smear and malign Resolve Communications,”

Tompkins said the submitted piece “argued there was a leadership vacuum in the government’s handling of a growing waste management crisis, particularly around waste tyre management and recycling.”

Tony Leon has denied wrongdoing and said “We do not, and we cannot, direct the decisions of ministers or officials.” He added:

“A request, made and freely refused, is not corruption.”

Timing and fallout

The email was sent seven weeks before George was removed from the environment portfolio and replaced by Willie Aucamp. When George first went public in June he told the Sunday Times Resolve had approached him on behalf of Redisa while the company was in litigation with his department and that he refused every request.

Litigation and background

The opinion piece pitched by Resolve was on behalf of Redisa, which the source says was in litigation with George’s department at the time. The article notes Redisa ran an integrated industry waste tyre management plan and that its liquidation was disputed in court; Tompkins said Redisa was in litigation over damages related to its placement into liquidation and cited a 2019 Supreme Court of Appeal judgment that vindicated Redisa.

Broader scrutiny of Resolve

IOL reported that Resolve has been under scrutiny since late June over allegations about its access to DA ministers. The coverage includes claims and accounts involving former DA figures and other political actors; some individuals mentioned in the reporting have denied wrongdoing or described allegations as politically motivated.

Exclusive reporting cited

According to IOL, it exclusively reported former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s account that Resolve worked on the city’s Day Zero drought communications campaign as a subcontractor.

The parties named in the reporting have given differing accounts: George says the email proves a negative campaign; Resolve and its representatives deny a coordinated campaign and characterise the line of enquiry as without basis.