SACP man comes out with guns blazing

Fired former North West public works and roads MEC Madoda Sambatha has come out with guns blazing against Premier Supra Mahumapelo whom he claimed purged him because he opposed Gupta-led state capture in the province.

Sambatha, who was recently fired as a part of a cabinet reshuffle by Mahumapelo, said his dismissal was based on fabricated allegations submitted to Luthuli House by the premier, who is also the ANC provincial chairperson. Mahumapelo alleged that Sambatha was involved in an illegal sale of a portion of land in Mmabatho Unit 12.

Sambatha, who is the SACP North West provincial secretary, said the allegations were nothing but lies which should be condemned with the contempt they deserved.

“Government’s own records and official documents clearly show that the land portion in question was sold for about R76 440 and that it was bought before I was elected as a member of the North West Provincial Legislature and appointed to MEC position,” Sambatha said.

The former MEC showed a letter indicating that land portion Erf No 3878 Unit 12 in Mmabatho was purchased by TJ Mampe. The letter also indicated that the land was fully paid for.

According to Sambatha, Mahumapelo submitted a fabricated document to the ANC national officials so as to justify his removal from the provincial cabinet. He was called by Luthuli House to give his side of the story but Mahumapelo removed him without waiting for the head office decision on the matter.

He gave Sambatha an option to resign or be fired as an MEC but he refused.

“I refused to resign because, first and foremost, I was not guilty of violating the law. Secondly, I said they should consult the leadership of the SACP,” Sambatha said.

Sambatha added the premier planned to fire him as far back as 2014 and 2015 after he opposed his suggestion that the Guptas had contributed to employment in the North West mining sector especially in Matlosana.

“The purging includes purging those who disagree with the defence of the Gupta-centred parasitic network of private wealth accumulation and, associated with it, complicity in misgovernance in the public sector to facilitate exploitation of public resources and assets,” Sambatha said.

He said he was targeted as a representative of the SACP because of the party’s steadfast opposition to the decay in the provincial administration.

“No amount of manipulation of executive prerogatives, public power, authority and resources will succeed to cow me into silence, passivity, fatalism or conformism whatsoever. Our priority is the fight against the Guptarisation and all forms of state capture and looting, factionalism and patronage, demagogy, tribalism and ethnicity, political thuggery and more so the exclusion of the alliance from governance decisions,” said Sambatha.

North West provincial government spokesperson Brian Setswambung failed to return calls to solicit the premier’s comment at the time of going to print.

– ericn@citizen.co.za