I didn’t collapse Tshwane – DA Gauteng Premier candidate Msimanga

Speaking at the DA’s “Phetogo” election rally on Saturday morning in Soweto, the party’s candidate for Premier of Gauteng, former Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga, defended himself against allegations that Tshwane is “failing” as a result of his governance.

Msimanga says the ANC “get to be judged [over] 20 years or 25 years of things that have gone wrong against two years of things starting to be built up again,” under the DA.

“Obviously you aren’t going to make everybody happy,” he added.

“But I find it very strange that people would come and say we collapsed Tshwane,” Msimanga said.

READ MORE: Solly Msimanga welcomes probe of brother’s alleged theft case

“Tshwane when we got in was a bankrupt municipality,” he alleged, claiming that within a year his local government had turned the situation around, managing to amass a R704 million operating surplus.

He added that these were not his own figures and that they could be verified.

“We were able to then start buying vehicles to make sure that we are able to [implement] service delivery. we were able to then stop the corruption in terms of how people are appointed,” he said.

“Obviously people will have different perspectives in terms of what has happened in the last years, but I can tell you Tshwane is a better place and we still continue to build on that, I’ve laid a solid foundation,” Msimanga concluded.

[WATCH] Let me set the record straight! Tshwane is not failing, infact it is far better than it was under the ANC!

We did what the ANC failed to do in just 2 years.

No political gimmicks will take away from our record in Tshwane. pic.twitter.com/VMPzVw46N5

— Solly Msimanga (@SollyMsimanga) May 4, 2019

During Msimanga’s tenure as mayor of Tshwane, he was accused of involvement in several scandals.

The African National Congress (ANC) in Tshwane recently accused Msimanga’s brother Nkululeko of having been being caught on camera stealing computers from the city of Tshwane.

An ANC statement alleged that this was evidence that Msimanga “presided over a kleptocratic government which employed at the nerve centre and at the heart of the city’s administration bodybuilders; incompetent, unqualified, inexperienced and unskilled relatives; friends; and white DA members”.

Msimanga said in a statement that he was aware that a case of theft had been opened with the SAPS against his brother.

“I have been informed that an investigation is ongoing and I welcome this probe.

READ MORE: Bodybuilder’ has political muscle needed in my office – Msimanga

“It is critical that law enforcement gets to the bottom of this matter and if my brother is guilty of any wrongdoing he should bear the consequences of his actions without fear or favour.”

The ANC previously had tried to remove Msimanga as mayor, claiming he had knowledge of an alleged R12 billion irregular tender with engineering company GladAfrica.

Tshwane city manager Moeketsi Mosola was accused of being responsible for the tender blunder with GladAfrica.

Msimanga was last year accused of improperly appointing the former mayoral chief of staff Marietha Aucamp.

Also last year, another scandal followed reports that Msimanga was paying former DA employee and bodybuilder, Stefan de Villiers, R1 million annually just for coordinating the mayor’s diary despite his allegedly falling far short of the job’s advertised requirements.

Msimanga defended De Villiers’ appointment at the time.

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