Politicians cannot be final arbiters in corruption cases

Representing 0.22% of Johannesburg voters, Joburg council speaker Colleen Makhubele is playing a high-stakes game to protect her job and those of her ANC masters.

On Monday, in response to a memorandum from city manager Floyd Brink, whose position is under pressure, she gave the go-ahead for him and mayor Kabelo Gwamanda to seek external legal advice.

Undereducated Gwamanda’s party represents 0.95% of Joburg voters. He is under investigation by financial authorities for allegedly operating an illegal business.

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Makhubele, Gwamanda and Brink are trying to build cases against former mayor Mpho Phalatse, former speaker Vasco da Gama and ex-MMC Leah Knott, regarding the city’s Group Forensic Investigation Service (GFIS).

A report adopted by council last week purports to shut down GFIS, exonerating all those investigated by the unit, which was established by former mayor Herman Mashaba.

This week’s legal moves show the ANC-led grouping is not content with the council resolution trashing GFIS. They want to take certain councillors to court. This could backfire. While they have a pliant majority in council, the dynamics in court are different.

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There is no guarantee the speaker and city manager will prevail when decisions are made by judges not beholden to political masters. Even before last week’s council vote, city manager Brink was targeted for litigation by the DA, which considers his appointment unlawful.

When this whole matter is fully unravelled in courts, it is not impossible that both Brink and Makhubele will fall.

On Monday, in separate memorandums, both the speaker and the city manager sought to create the impression that they have the authority to decide what happens next.

For example, Makhubele said: “The speaker of council shall henceforth assume jurisdiction over the process.” We shall see. It is unlikely to be correct that those who are in a sense the accused can protect themselves by ganging up behind a cobbled together political majority.

I hold no brief for GFIS. During Mashaba’s term, it was inert in response to my April 2018 written request for an investigation into board-level corruption at the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA). The request was based on a letter by outgoing JRA managing director Sean Phillips, who said Mashaba failed to act on his complaints, including allegations about IFP/EFF practices.

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Long after Mashaba left office, GFIS followed up. A significant JRA suspension occurred shortly before the 2021 local government elections.

For years, GFIS has not exerted itself over a series of documented allegations about the Joburg Property Company (JPC)-owned Dunkeld Bowls Club. Therefore, I was not going to ask GFIS to probe claims of a syndicate with tentacles in the JPC and City Parks, cornering various city-owned properties. That will probably end up in court.

None of GFIS’ imperfections justifies the way the ANC-controlled group in council is trying to exonerate all the accused. There are serious crooks in the city. And it shows.

Visible degradation of crumbling Joburg is a result of ANC-led plundering. City Power, Joburg Water, JRA, etc don’t have money to carry out their mandates because so much has been stolen in multiple ways. Politicians cannot be the final arbiters in corruption cases. Let the courts decide.

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