Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has accused Gauteng MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Uhuru Moiloa, of abusing his office.In a statement, Mashaba said, by rehashing allegations which are already the subject of an investigation by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Moiloa was pandering to the whims of the ANC.
The ANC in Johannesburg has accused Mashaba’s administration of corruption. These allegations, according to Mashaba, are a carbon copy of the ANC’s accusations against Mashaba’s government. However, in his reply to Moiloa’s investigation, Mashaba said the MEC’s decision to launch a probe into matters which were initially raised by the ANC caucus in Johannesburg, and which are being investigated by the office of the Public Protector, showed that Moiloa’s actions are politically driven.
“It appears that his decision to institute a section 106(1) (b) investigation is motivated by politics rather than good governance principles. This is substantiated by MEC Moiloa using a complaint raised by the ANC in Johannesburg, almost verbatim, and instituting an investigation without any effort to engage the City of Johannesburg.
“I believe that no effort has been made to rationally conclude that there exists “reason to believe that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occurred…,” wrote Mashaba in a statement this week.
Mashaba also noted that Moiloa was inconsistent in the matters he chose to investigate.
The Mayor further pointed out that Moiloa had seemingly failed to investigate other matters which have been reorted with no response being forthcoming from the MEC.
These include:
· An investment of R127 million, into the collapsed VBS Bank, the Merafong Local Municipality and West Rand District Municipality;
· The termination of a service provider’s contract by the Ekurhuleni municipality because of an alleged failure to pay a R300 000 monthly bribe; and
· Allegations that the Rand West Local Municipality had failed to pay back R210 million owed to Eskom as well as an alleged R1 billion owed to Eskom by several Gauteng ANC-run municipalities.
Mashaba also asked Moiloa the number of times an MEC of Cogta had relied on the legislation in question to institute a probe.
“This is pertinent because in dealing with the 3500 cases of fraud, corruption and maladministration in Johannesburg, totalling over R18 billion, never once has anyone in Provincial Government displayed any interest in these investigations. This includes the multi-billion rand cases of the EPG Smart Meters and the MTC Broadband which implicates two National Ministers,” wrote Mashaba.
The mayor warned Moiloa that his probe was a distraction from serving the people of Johannesburg.
Said Mashaba: “Both the Province and the City of Johannesburg have enormous challenges to overcome in order to provide services to our residents. Our residents expect to see us working together to achieve change in their lives. Initiating this kind of investigation will only serve to distract us from this priority and lock the Province and the City in unnecessary legal proceedings."
