Joburg mayor says MMCs reshuffle rumours ‘inaccurate’, blames political opponents

City of Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse says there is a “disinformation campaign” that seeks to destabilise its multi-party coalition government.

This comes after there were rumours that Phalatse would reshuffle her 10 members of the mayoral committee (MMCs) in office.

‘Unnamed sources’

In a statement, the City of Joburg executive mayor said these rumours were far from the truth.

“Over the last few days, there have been inaccurate reports of my intention to reshuffle MMCs and to purge senior City officials and the senior management of some municipal entities. I wish to empathically state that this could not be further from the truth,” she said on Sunday.

Phalatse further argued the rumours were based solely on the word of “unnamed sources” as well as “a spurious and unseen leaked document”.

“In my view these sources and the leaked document do not exist,” the mayor said.

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She said it was another attempt by “political opponents”, both inside and outside the City administration, in the wake of its “programme of dismantling criminal syndicates that have for been for years siphoning off money meant for the much-needed delivery of services”.

“These reports and their drivers are part of a disinformation campaign that seeks to sow disunity and distrust among coalition partners, who work daily in service of the City of Johannesburg’s 6-million residents.

“Equally, the peddling of false information about a political hit list aimed at city and entity senior managers is designed to create a culture of fear and divide and frustrate the flourishing relationship between the executive, legislature, core administration and entities,” Phalatse said.

Council meeting disruptions

The multi-party coalition in Joburg has experienced a number of disruptions since the start of the year.

Earlier this month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) laid charges of intimidation and assault against Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and ANC members following a brawl during a council meeting, which ended up being suspended.

Police are dealing with the matter, while City of Joburg speaker Vasco da Gama has mandated the Ethics Committee to also investigate.

This was not the first time that chaos broke out during a council meeting.

READ: Phalatse denies claims City of Joburg uses ‘spy’ equipment

Meanwhile, Phalatse was previously accused of concealing evidence related to equipment the City allegedly bought illegally.

Despite the State Security Agency (SSA) clearing the Joburg mayor and former group forensics and investigation services (GFIS) commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of being in possession of intelligence gathering equipment, the pair has been reported to the police the matter.

The City acquired the controversial spy machine in 2016, when the DA first came into power.

The ANC in Joburg, last year, also accused Phalatse of wrongdoing relating to the Field Band Foundation, which provided services to the metropolitan municipality for more than R11 million in 2017.