EXCLUSIVE: Edenvale CPF chairperson accused of bribery, abuse of position and defamation

Marietta Lombard and Charmaine Slater reports:

Linda McKenzie, the Edenvale Community Police Forum (ECPF) chairperson, has admitted to making statements which DA party leaders described as “alleged bribery, the abuse of her position and defamation”.

Also read: ‘The matter is not closed’ – Hart

This follows the release of an audio recording to the NEWS by the DA’s deputy chief whip of parliament, Mike Waters.

Also read: ‘Unapproved’ recording equipment ends CPF meeting

Waters said the audio recording is of a telephone call between McKenzie and a member of a private security company.

“During the phone call, McKenzie can be heard calling the Edenvale ward 18 councillor, Heather Hart, an ‘alcoholic’ and she describes her as ‘wicked’.”

“McKenzie can be heard offering to pay for accommodation at a holiday resort in Brits for the person who ‘catches’ Hart,” said Waters.

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“McKenzie gives information on Hart’s vehicle registration number and she then tells the man that Hart had been trying to ‘nail’ her [McKenzie] for every move she makes and she now needs to stop her [Hart] this way. McKenzie tells him that she knows Hart drinks and drives and that she will inform him when she sees Hart’s vehicle at the council offices. She hatched a plan for the councillor to be ‘caught’- I assume for driving after drinking.

“She offers to pay for the accommodation and betters her initial offer by saying instead of just a weekend away, she will pay for five days at the resort for whoever ‘catches’ Hart. She tells him that the accommodation is booked and they [those who catch Hart] must just take their own food and inform her of how many people the accommodation will be for.”

“She then tells the man she will also give him a two week holiday for himself, his wife and their children. The man declined the offer stating he had to work,” Waters said.

McKenzie admits

In a statement issued on behalf of McKenzie by her legal representation, Martin John Hood from MJ Hood & Associates Attorneys, she admits to making the comments contained in the audio recording.

“Our client admits that she made the comments contained in the audio recording. She unreservedly retracts such comments and apologises to Clr Hart. She now considers the matter closed,” the statement by Hood reads.

On Wednesday night last week, the ECPF monthly meeting was called off soon after knowledge of the audio recording was made public.

Edenvale resident, Alex Gagiano said, “She [McKenzie] does not belong here. I will make it known to everyone here tonight.”

Also read: Resident raises concerns about ECPF

This was not the first time a forum meeting abruptly came to a halt.

In May 2015, McKenzie called off the ECPF meeting before proceedings got underway citing that unapproved recording equipment had been set up in the hall.

On Thursday the NEWS met with the man behind the recording released by Waters.

The man, who cannot be named due to ongoing investigations, confirmed that he had made the recording while in conversation with McKenzie in February this year.

In response to the audio clip, Waters said the DA was shocked at the comments made by the ECPF chairperson during the conversation.

“It is, in my view, an abuse of her position as the ECPF chair and she has undermined the very essence of her involvement in the CPF,” Waters said.

He said he has written to the Minister of Police, the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, under which all Gauteng community police forums fall and the Gauteng Provincial Commissioner regarding the audio recording.

“It is totally unacceptable that a person in the position that Mrs McKenzie occupies abuses it in such a way,” Waters said.

He also defended Hart, stating that she is a hard working and dedicated councillor who has always placed the interests of Edenvale first and foremost.

“It is deplorable that her good image has been dragged through the mud,” he said.

Gauteng SAPS spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, told the NEWS that at this stage the SAPS was unable to comment on the content of the audio clip.

“It is the responsibility of any person who feels aggravated by the contents of the clip to file a complaint with the police in order for an investigation to be initiated. Once factual information is available, this office will be able to comment on the matter,” Dlamini said.

Enquiries regarding the audio recording, as well as the recording itself, were sent to the office of the MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane on May 24 and 25.

Comment was requested by May 29.

A further enquiry and the audio recording were also sent to the Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, as well as his spokesperson Esethu Hasane, on May 24 and 25 with comment also requested by May 29.

Numerous attempts to contact Minister Mbalula and spokesperson Hasane were futile.

Both the MEC and the Minister failed to provide comment before publishing.

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