Gumede’s ‘jolly holiday’ a mockery of Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption stance – Steenhuisen

DA leader John Steenhuisen has described the stepping aside of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede as an MPL as a “jolly holiday”.

He says it makes a mockery of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration that he and the ANC will stamp out corruption.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday announced that Gumede, having initially been sworn in as a sitting member of the provincial legislature, was asked to “step aside” pending the finalisation of her corruption case.

She, however, has not resigned, and will receive her full salary as court processes continue.

“This is clearly unacceptable and makes a complete mockery of President Ramaphosa’s solemn vow that corruption will no longer be tolerated in his party – a tune he has been singing for years now with no effect at all,” Steenhuisen said on Friday.

Steenhuisen said if the ANC continued to either redeploy politicians accused of corruption, “and even promote them, as we’ve seen in Gumede’s case, or simply pay them a full salary to stay at home, then these vows mean nothing”.

Charges

Gumede and 17 others face charges relating to fraud in a Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender case, totalling around R430 million. She is currently out on R50,000 bail.

Last week, she was deployed to the legislature, where Steenhuisen said she would receive a R1.1 million annual salary.

“Life, it seems, is indeed one long jolly holiday for the corrupt cadres of the ANC,” he said.

Steenhuisen further alluded to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) report, which this week detailed how suspended public servants in provincial governments cost taxpayers R158 million.

He said that between 1 October and 31 December last year, the government spent R84 million on precautionary suspension cases, while it spent a further R74 million in the first three months of 2020.

“This suspension of Gumede only followed intense outside pressure, and particularly from the DA in yesterday’s parliamentary questions to the president session. It had nothing to do with a newly discovered moral compass in the ANC.”

Steenhuisen said an attempt to spin Gumede’s appointment as a win for women empowerment was a joke.

“It is laughable statements like these that demonstrate just how much disdain the ANC has for the citizens of this country.”

He said no one truly believed that promoting Gumede had anything to do with women empowerment, “but the ANC think they can get away with even the most outrageous spin and platitudes”.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) project manager Tim Tyrrell said removing Gumede from official duties in the legislature was the ANC putting itself ahead of people.

Outrage

“There is no doubt that this decision has been made because of the growing public outrage against the governing party and the government’s perceived inability to deal with corruption within its own ranks.

“The people have the power, but it’s time to become more organised and firm in order to hold those chosen to represent and serve the people to account for their conduct.”

He said the party could easily remove Gumede as an MPL “as this is a political appointment and therefore does not enjoy the same protections afforded to those employed in the private and public sector”.

“The governing party’s recent turnaround on Gumede, the release of all national and provincial Covid-19 tender awards and the publication of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee minutes have only occurred because of public pressure.

“It is only because of the work of civil society, brave whistleblowers, journalists and active citizens that we are seeing a slow shift towards greater transparency and accountability.”

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