Dr Rabelani Dagada said he vehemently denies allegations recently made against him which led to him being suspended as Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor and removed as MMC for Finance.
Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba announced on the morning of 15 January that Dagada would face an enquiry of the DA’s Federal Legal Commission and appear before the council ethics committee after allegations of favouritism relating to tenders within his department surfaced.
Mashaba said the forensic investigation found Dagada to have been involved in price-fixing with a service provider to the City and would also face criminal charges.
Dagada remains that the recent incident is merely a political fight. He said he has been subjected to an unrelenting witch-hunt to remove him from the mayoral committee and to kill his political career.
Dagada said, “The mayor has been trying to remove him since June last year, partly because of the City’s poor revenue collection and the fact that the billing crisis was not being dealt with.
“We proved that this was not true and we were dealing with the billing crisis.”
He said the corruption allegations against him were not backed up by any evidence and that he could not make decisions when it came to tenders being awarded. “Tender appointments are done either by the group CFO or the City Manager.”
Dagada said that two officials within his department made affidavits against him, but he felt they were pressured into doing this because they were allegedly being investigated themselves.
According to Dagada, his lawyers had seen the investigation’s draft report and found it to be biased and not backed up by any evidence. “If the report is published, I will approach the court.”
Although he would not challenge his position as MMC or as a councillor, however, he would attempt to clear his name.
The former MMC is certain that both the DA and the council will find him innocent and that his name will be cleared.
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