DA: ANC ducks and dives on Qbit matter

The Democratic Alliance says that democracy and transparency took a hard hit in Ekurhuleni on Thursday (August 28) when both a motion and an urgent oral question to the Mayor pertaining to a case of corruption were rejected in their entirety by the Speaker of Council.

The DA’s motion — seconded by IRASA’s Clr Isak Berg — called for the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality (EMM) City Manager and chief accounting officer, Khaya Ngema, who is alleged to have been involved in the now-notorious Qbit tender, to be placed on suspension until and if he is cleared of any wrongdoing.

The urgent question put to the Mayor, Mondli Gungubele, for reply set out to ascertain who authorised Ngema to appoint a forensic accounting investigation company, Gobodo, to look into the issue when, in fact, council had resolved 18 months ago that the Qbit matter be dealt with by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

But neither the motion nor the questions were allowed on the agenda by Speaker, Patricia Khumalo who gave as her reason that the matter was already before council in a confidential item and would be debated during the meeting.

The DA rejects this as a valid reason, because there is no guarantee that the in-committee item would address the concerns contained in the motion and question.

This is tantamount to a cover-up and an attempt to protect a senior official.

The DA is determined to get answers on the matter as it is not only irregular in terms of council processes but, as Ngema is also implicated in the matter which Gobodo was meant to be investigating, it is also a conflict of interest.

The DA strongly believes that the Mayor deliberately absented himself from the meeting due to the controversial matter on the agenda.

Although the official reason for his absence is that he was to open the new Vosloorus Hospital, he was still due to address council as recently as August 27.
It is impossible to believe that he was not booked for the occasion a few weeks ago, which raises suspicions about his motives.

In the end, the Mayor did appear at the meeting, due the DA believes, to pressure brought to bear by the DA.

With the support of small opposition parties, we objected strenuously to the fact that in line with the Municipal Systems Act, council was not given the opportunity to elect an Acting Executive Mayor.

After a caucus meeting called by the ANC, the Mayor suddenly arrived.

However, he failed to deliver his normal monthly address.

Also read:

 DA calls for city manager to be suspended over tender fraud

Speaker of council clarifies Qbit investigation