Gauteng legislature and DA in war of words over ‘interference’ in corruption claims

Provincial leadership and the opposition are struggling to reach an agreement on internal processes.

The Democratic Alliance’s Gauteng leader, Solly Msimanga, accused members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) last week of conspiring to remove a member pursuing fraud allegations.

The department hit back on Monday, declaring the allegations false while elaborating on the decisions made at the time.

Calls for ethics investigation

Msimanga on Friday called for the resignation of former speaker Ntombi Mekgwe, deputy speaker Nomvuyo Mhlakaza-Manamela and ANC chief whip Lesego Makhubela.

The DA Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) claimed the trio interfered in the disciplinary processes of 32 employees and two MPLs accused of fraud and wasteful expenditure.

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Central to the argument is Peter Skosana, who recently left his position as secretary of the legislature.

Msimanga asserted that Skosana was dismissed for attempting to recover the unaccounted-for funds.

“[It] is not only shameful but also indicative of how far the ANC is willing to go to protect those implicated in corruption,” stated the Msimanga on Friday.

GPL denies any wrongdoing

By Monday, the office of the acting secretary of the legislature Linda Mwale had refuted the claims made by Msimanga.

The acting secretary denied that Skosana was dismissed and claimed he was not a key part of the investigation.

Mwale’s office explained that it was not Skosana who initiated the investigations, but the GPL itself.

However, the cost of the investigation outweighed the amounts alleged to have been misspent.

“The cost of investigation and disciplinary actions using external service providers was found to be excessive,” read Mwale’s statement.

“Therefore, GPL decided to use internal processes to deal with the matter,” it stated.

Three officials defended

Regarding Mekgwe, the statement defended her, reiterating that the former speaker did not interfere.

Mhlakaza-Manamela and Makhubela had been accused of accepting irregular payments related to travel allowances.

Mwale also defended the two MPLs, saying that the journeys under question were cancelled at the last minute due to ill-health and visa complications, respectively.

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Both have claimed that they would pay back any outstanding amounts.

Prior to the release of the statement, The Citizen had made an attempt to receive an explanation from the office of Premier Panyaza Lesufi but none had been received at the time of publication.

‘Attempts to hide the truth’

Msimanga was quick to retort, doubling down on his belief that the implicated officials had a case to answer.

“They are only willing to pay back the money because they have been exposed. They should have done the honourable thing and paid back the money immediately,” Msimanga said on Monday.

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Regarding Skosana, he remained unconvinced, suggesting the former secretary was under pressure from those around him.

“While they may not have fired him, we tend to question exactly why millions of rands have been paid to him for the remainder of his term.

“We believe that he was pushed when he discovered the fraud that was taking place at the legislature,” stated Msimanga,

He concluded with a commitment to submitting an ethics complaint and that the DA had reported the MPL’s to the legislature’s integrity commissioner.