Herman Mashaba and Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Pictures: Michel Bega and Nigel Sibanda
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba made a bold claim against two rival politicians on X recently.
The former Johannesburg mayor was responding to a post celebrating the prominence of new Members of Parliament, John Hlophe and Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
Impeached judge Hlophe will be Jacob Zuma’s figurative spear as he is set to lead the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party in the seventh parliament, while the former public protector will take a parliamentary seat among her Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) colleagues.
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Unprovoked, Mashaba lashed out at the pair of former legal professionals, posting, “These two don’t represent me and the black race I belong to. Please, leave the black race in individual self-agendas. These two represent their chosen parties and their self-interest.”
Advocate Mkhwebane responded on Sunday morning, posting that Mashaba was still angry with her over findings she made against him in 2020.
Citing her own report, Mkhwebane added, “The former executive mayor, Mr Mashaba, unlawfully and irregularly entered the procurement space and solicited free services from Lephatse Financial Services.”
She added her claims that alleged Mashaba improperly influenced the City of Johannesburg to redirect funds allocated for youth drug rehabilitation to an unrelated NGO.
In the post, Mkhwebane acknowledges that the courts set aside her remedial actions, but stated “all the evidence is there”.
As per stats provided by the former public protector herself, she attempted to dispel negative responses to her reply.
As the nation’s lead prosecutor, she oversaw two clean audits while completing 412 investigative reports and successfully defended nine reports in court.
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Additionally, she oversaw a total caseload of 60,962, of which her department finalised 58,964.
The 58 MK party members who were absent from the first sitting of parliament will be sworn in on Tuesday, 25 June.
Chaos has reigned in the MK party ranks, but an internal memo suggested things may be beginning to stabilise.
“We are at a critical stage in the structuring of our party’s administrative and financial operations,” the memo reads.
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