ANC move against Mashaba ‘a cheap stunt’

The city of Joburg’s DA mayor, Herman Mashaba, remained firm and appeared not to take the ANC’s move of laying criminal charges against him and other city officials seriously yesterday.

The city said the mayor will not allow “ANC stunts” to distract him from improving the lives of Johannesburg residents.

The ANC city caucus laid charges of fraud and corruption against Mashaba, the MMC for shared services Ntombi Khumalo, city manager Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni, and a number of other senior city officials for allegedly awarding illegal contracts worth R3 billion.

Allegations include awarding a R1.2 billion contract to Afrirent and spending R100 million on 145 vehicles in Mogale City.

Tony Taverna-Turisan, the major’s spokesperson, slammed the ANC action as “opportunist” and a “cheap political stunt”, aimed at discrediting the good work that the DA mayor has done.

The city says Mashaba has never been involved in any awarding illegal tenders and that all processes have been lawful. Taverna-Turisan said the ANC continued to mislead and make false promises.

“We are not surprised by the ANC’s latest effort to mislead our residents and lie to them for their narrow political agenda. “Our residents have been lied to for decades by the ANC and far too many promises have been broken,” Taverna-Turisan said.

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