City of Tshwane says ‘sex tape’ of mayor was blackmail attempt
The mayor has not denied that the recording is of him being intimate with someone in his mayoral committee, only that the recording was allegedly illegally obtained and leaked.
Former Tshwane mayor Stevens Mokgalapa. Photo: Facebook / Africa Liberal Network
On Sunday afternoon the City of Tshwane said in a media statement that they viewed what they called an alleged extortion attempt against their mayor, Stevens Mokgalapa, in a serious light and considered it criminal.
An audio recording had earlier been leaked allegedly of the mayor having a sexual encounter with his MMC for roads and transport, Sheila Senkubuge, and featured a number of instances of him discussing other individuals and colleagues in the city, often unflatteringly.
LISTEN: Tshwane mayor Mokgalapa allegedly disses colleagues while ‘having sex’ with MMC
Mayoral spokesperson Omogolo Taunyane said that both Mokgalapa and Senkubuge viewed the recording in “a very serious light”.
Not only, he said, was it illegal to obtain such in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, it was also being used as a tool to blackmail and extort undue favours from the City of Tshwane.
Mokgalapa admitted: “We have been aware of the existence of this audio recording for a few days and threats to release the recording have been communicated to us via an intermediary wherein certain demands have been made.”
When The Citizen had asked about the existence of the recording this morning, however, the city’s spokesperson appeared not to have any knowledge of it and seemed to listen to it for the first time when we sent it to him.
The city has now claimed that the demands from the “blackmailers” included the immediate reinstatement of four officials who were currently on suspension for violations of the Municipal Finance Management Act and other relevant statutes governing the conduct of officials of the municipality.
“We have both refused to give in to the demands of these individuals who are hellbent on seeing us break the law to give them easy passage back into the municipality. This is despite the serious nature of the allegations they are facing. We will not sacrifice our oaths of office and betray the trust that the people of Tshwane have placed in us,” said Mokgalapa.
He said a case of blackmail and extortion had been registered with the Brooklyn police.
“We expect law enforcement authorities to get to the bottom of these attempts to turn the municipality into a bastion of illegal activity wherein leaders are expected to turn a blind eye on such,” said Taunyane.
Added the mayor: “If these officials who are said to be behind this have committed nothing wrong, why are they trying to use nefarious ways of getting back into the municipality instead of subjecting themselves to the applicable disciplinary processes? If they’re indeed targets of a campaign to purge the municipality of certain individuals as its claimed, then they should allow the disciplinary proceedings to exonerate them.”
The City said they were also aware of attempts to involve worker representative organisations in these “illegal attempts to undermine the law”.
“We urge organised labour representing workers in the municipality to stand firm and reject any attempt to subvert the law for personal gain. The interests of the people of Tshwane should always triumph over any personal interests and ambitions,” added the spokesperson.
The Young Communist League (YCL) in Tshwane has called for Mokgalapa to be removed as mayor.
District chairperson Lucky Ndala said it was damning that they had “bad mouthed” their fellow councillors, finance MMC Mare-Lise Fourie and speaker Katlego Mathebe, whom they called “Barbie Doll” and “witch”, respectively.
“Mokgalapa and Senkubuge further engaged in sexual intercourse at the InfoTech Building, the headquarters of Roads & Transport in Hatfield, Pretoria, on Wednesday, October 2 2019, shortly after the Mayco meeting.”
He said the YCL had also learnt that Mokgalapa had recommended acting city manager Moeketsi Ntsimane for appointment as city manager and the report on his imminent appointment was expected to be served at Council this Thursday.
“Mokgalapa chaired the interview panel and it’s no surprise that his ‘squeeze’ Senkubuge was also a panellist.”
He alleged that the entire recruitment process of the permanent city manager had been “contaminated by the panellists’ conspiracy against the city’s COO James Murphy, who runs 80% of the city’s operations, yet he wasn’t shortlisted for the vacant post. In fact, both of the city’s deputy city managers – Murphy and Lorette Tredoux – applied for the position, but were not shortlisted.”
They added that it was “despicable for a married Mokgalapa to have sex with his subordinate in the office when the city is awash with B&Bs. We don’t care how the audio came about, whether it was Senkubuge who recorded it in order to blackmail him or it’s the work of rogue intelligence agents, we care more about the contents which confirm that Ntsimane, Senkubuge and Mokgalapa have an ‘unholy’ alliance.”
They said the first and only item on the agenda when Council met on Thursday should be to fire Mokgalapa and his executive and for the report recommending the appointment of Ntsimane to be rejected.
“The entire recruitment process should be annulled and a fresh process should begin in earnest with an ethical, incorruptible and honest executive mayor and his or her executive.”
The Democratic Alliance (DA) itself said it “noted the serious allegations made against the DA-led City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for transport Councillor Sheila Senkubuge, claimed to be supported by an audio clip that is being widely distributed”.
Gauteng provincial leader John Moodey said their political leadership would meet with the mayor whilst the DA’s Federal Legal Commission had been tasked to conduct an internal investigation into the matter.
“Mayor Mokgalapa has laid charges of extortion and invasion of privacy against some known and unknown individuals at the Brooklyn police station as well as with the Hawks.
“The DA is committed to provide clean governance and will act appropriately when such serious allegations arise.
“Accordingly, we will handle this matter with all due diligence.”
(Edited by Charles Cilliers)
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