Cape Town mayor fires MMC Malusi Booi amid fraud, corruption probe

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has fired the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for human settlements, Malusi Booi.

Malusi Booi fired

Booi, a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor, was dismissed following his suspension from office last week. The MMC for Economic Growth and Tourism Alderman James Vos was appointed to act in Booi’s position.

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This followed a South African Police Service (Saps) raid earlier this month at city offices, including the office of Booi, in which members of the commercial crimes unit seized electronic equipment and documents.

The search and seizure operation is related to an investigation into allegations of fraud and corruption. No arrests were made and Booi is yet to be formally charged by police.

Fraud and corruption probe

In a statement on Thursday, Hill-Lewis said he had removed Booi from the mayoral committee with immediate effect, after receiving an updated briefing from Saps on their ongoing fraud and corruption investigation.

While the councillor has not been formally charged, the mayor said the matters under investigation “are to my mind serious enough to warrant immediate action to protect the integrity of our government.”

Zero tolerance approach

Last week, Hill-Lewis said he assured police of the metro’s full support in the ongoing investigation. He said the City of Cape Town had a “zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and will not hesitate to act in the interests of good governance”.

In November last year, eight City of Cape Town officials were arrested for alleged involvement in construction tender fraud.

This followed investigations into complaints of fraud and corruption that entail the inflation of invoices, irregular payments to service providers for construction work not undertaken and other illicit activities.

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