Emfuleni mayor ‘plays hide-and-seek’ with ANC

With no resignation forthcoming from Emfuleni mayor Jacob Khawe as “legitimately expected”, the Sedibeng ANC has pinned its hope on the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) to end the impasse.

Khawe was expected to tender his resignation during a special council sitting last week Friday, but he pulled the rug from under his party and pulled a no-show.

Last week, the Sedibeng region said the party hadn’t received any request to stay on from Khawe and therefore the expectation from the region, to which Khawe reports as executive mayor, was for him to resign on that day.

He was elected ANC provincial secretary in July and had until last month to step down to focus on his new party responsibilities, with his request to stay on until the end of this month rejected by his regional structure.

ANC Sedibeng spokesperson, Boniface Mzilazila, said Khawe was absent at the special sitting and the council speaker was not informed of his absence or reason thereof.

Mzilazila said the matter will now be discussed during the Gauteng ANC PEC meeting tomorrow.

He said Khawe’s matter was also discussed in the meeting of ANC Gauteng provincial working committee, which is a recommending structure of the PEC.

Spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng said Khawe remains the executive mayor and that he will address the media on Friday.

Khawe is in the process of cleaning up Sedibeng, which has been rocked by allegations of fraud and corruption in connection with a missing R872 million, with the Hawks zooming in on heads of five departments.

The uncovered graft was for the period starting July 1, 2017 until June 30, 2018 as well as any other expenditure incurred prior to the 2017-18 financial year related to irregular expenditure.

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