Graft-busting Emfuleni mayor expected to leave position

The ANC appears to be about to get rid of a recently appointed mayor who has moved to deal with corruption and looting in the stricken Vaal municipality of Emfuleni.

Emfuleni mayor Jacob Khawe appears to have thrown in the towel in his fight to cling to the position, with the ANC in the Sedibeng region, to which he reports, adamant that it expected him to hand over his mayoral chain today.

He was elected the party’s 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.

Boniface Mzilazila, the party’s Sedibeng regional spokesperson, yesterday said they had not received a fresh request from Khawe asking to be allowed to stay on for another month. He said without such request, the logic assumption was that he would step down.

“Except for the initial one, which was rejected, there is no request from him to stay on. This is why we say there is a legitimate and reasonable expectation for him to hand over the baton. The period for him to start his responsibility has arrived,” Mzilazila said.

He said the municipal laws did not allow somebody to be acting in a position while they were working elsewhere, as this would amount to earning two salaries.

Mzilazila was in the process of cleaning up the municipality, which was rocked by allegations of fraud and corruption in connection with R872 million which went missing, 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.

Comperio, a forensic investigation firm, has written to municipal manager Dithabe Nkoane and copied chief financial officer Andile Dyakala, requesting that more than R56 million in outstanding payments to 11 service providers not be paid until the forensic investigation was completed.

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