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The ANC in Tshwane has announced that it will be making a submission to the Zondo Commission on allegations of corruption, malfeasance and maladministration in the capital city, which it says has taken place since the DA took control in 2016.
In a statement on Thursday, the ANC said that, under the leadership of the DA, the City had experienced a “service delivery nightmare, untold corruption and malfeasance”, which warrants a submission at the judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture.
“Maladministration in the City of Tshwane has now become a usual occurrence. The Auditor General South Africa has documented all forms of poor governance associated with the DA since they have been in government from 2016 to date,” said ANC regional chairperson Dr Kgosi Maepa.
“This includes the R12bn Glad Africa corruption scandal, illegal appointments of people without qualifications and falsified CVs, reversal of employment equity, etc.
“We have observed that the DA is playing far away from the Zondo Commission because they do not want to openly talk about large scale corruption where they govern — the ANC in Tshwane has decided to tear the veil of political secrecy of the DA and expose their ‘blue lies’ and associated corruption.”
Maepa said the ANC would continue to engage with their attorneys to get proper advice on how to go about making a substantive submission to the commission, which is chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Mayoral spokesperson, Omogolo Taunyane, welcomed the decision by the ANC to approach the commission, saying that it was a legitimate platform.
“The mayor will subject himself to the process should he be called to provide testimony,” Taunyane said.
Maepa also gave an update on their urgent court application to reverse the decision to pay of former city manager, Moeketsi Mosola.
“The ANC has filed a notice of motion on 13 September 2019 at the North Gauteng High Court on an urgent basis, to request a judge to reverse a ridiculous unilateral decision by the Executive Mayor to pay a ‘Golden Handshake’ to Dr Moeketsi Mosola without Council approval,” Maepa said.
He said the ANC was now awaiting a court date.
News24 previously reported that the party had asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to set aside the council sitting that passed the resolutions on August 29.
In court papers, which News 24 has seen, the ANC contended that the council sitting was invalid and unlawful and, as a result, the resolutions passed during the sitting should be declared unlawful and set aside.
Maepa said resolutions were passed without the majority of council agreeing.
According to the court papers, the ANC’s 89 councillors, the EFF’s 25 and one PAC councillor registered dissenting votes.
“[The] majority of 115 councillors [out of a possible 214] voted against the resolution and it is self-evident that the meeting did not quorate.”
For a resolution to pass in the council, there must be a simple majority of 50% plus one, the ANC submitted.
λ President Cyril Ramaphosa and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo reflected on “recent events” in South Africa during a courtesy call on Thursday.
This after a wave of violence and looting hit business hubs in Gauteng.
“Former president Obasanjo expressed his sincere appreciation of President Ramaphosa’s recent appointment of a team of special envoys who have in the past few days visited a number of fellow African states to deliver a message from the president regarding the incidents of violence,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko.
“In the meeting, the leaders engaged on misconceptions created about the situation in South Africa that gave the impression that Nigerian nationals in particular had been victimised. No loss of life was reported among Nigerian nationals in South Africa during this period.”
South Africa had experienced a wave of protests, in which communities looted both foreign and South African-owned shops while calling for an end to drug syndicates, News24 previously reported.
Gauteng has been the hardest hit, with sporadic violence occurring across all three of its big metros.
About 700 people were arrested following the conflict.
According to Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, 10 of the 12 people who were killed in the week of unrest and violence were South Africans,
Evidence presented to Mapisa-Nqakula had ostensibly not shown that foreign nationals were being targeted because of their nationality, but rather “acts of criminality”.
On Thursday, Obasanjo also presented Ramaphosa with a copy of Democracy Works: Rewiring Politics to Africa’s Advantage, which he had co-authored with Greg Mills of the Brenthurst Foundation in South Africa; Jeffrey Herbst, a celebrated Africanist; and Tendai Biti, the former finance minister of Zimbabwe, Diko said.
“President Ramaphosa thanked the former president for working hard and still having the energy to write and contribute to current debates about the development of Africa,” Diko said. — Sapa
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