Named and shamed

Fire-spitting community leaders in Bela-Bela on Friday 26 October stunned Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha, when they publicly named and shamed three sitting local councillors, allegedly involved in corruption.

At some stage Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba intervened, pleading with the community leaders not to mention people by name — at least until proven guilty — but one after the other the angry
individual leaders ignored her.

The BEAT has chosen not to mention the accused councillors by name, informed by the principle of innocent until proven otherwise by a higher authority.

Two of the councillors sat at the front row stone-faced, as the community leaders proverbially hung their dirty linen in public, allegedly so, that is.

Speaking from among several hundred members of the audience during a Limpopo provincial legislature imbizo, community leader Lawrence Sengwane, said one of the two present councillors had allegedly given a job to her sister’s daughter.

“When I confronted her, she suggested that I also bring my own daughter so as to give her a job too,” he charged.

In her reaction, the councillor dropped her gaze to the floor, giggling.

Just after MEC Ramathuba had pleaded for caution in terms of naming the councillors, Bela-Bela Community First chair, Pontsho Mashaba, dared that he would name those he accused, and indeed named and shamed all three councillors.

Change for Bela-Bela firebrand, Fidolis Motau, also rose to condemn alleged corruption within the broader council and municipalities, with one councillor allegedly using proxies to access
resources.

Waterberg District Executive Mayor, Morris Mataboge, assured the community, “in the Premier’s presence”, that no councillor would ever again be involved in tender processes.

Mathabatha said he would institute an investigation into the damning allegations against the three councillors, and also the broader concerns raised by members of the community.

— The BEAT