Fuming Mashaba: ANC won’t take my call on Gwamanda

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has criticised the African National Congress (ANC) in Johannesburg for treating the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Community Development Kabelo Gwamanda with kid gloves.

This comes after Joburg Mayor Dada Morero placed Gwamanda on special leave on Tuesday.

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Gwamanda is facing fraud charges linked to his defunct investment and funeral insurance company, Ithemba Lama Afrika.

Appeal for decisive action

Mashaba told The Citizen on Wednesday that he expected Morero to fire Gwamanda.

“The executive mayor is failing the residents of the City of Johannesburg and South Africa. There is no excuse for not cutting him [Gwamanda] loose or keep him in office another day.

“He [Morero] is wasting time by not firing him. I thought he would announce that Gwamanda was fired. ”

ALSO READ: Mashaba denies tension between ActionSA and ANC over mayoral position in Tshwane

ANC not responding

Mashaba’s party has a co-governance agreement with the ANC in Tshwane and Johannesburg.

However, he said he fails to understand why the party is not taking a strong stance against Gwamanda.

“Why do they allow political processes to be the order of the day when someone has committed such a serious crime?”

He said after he learned of Gwamanda’s arrest, he reached out to the regional and national leaders of the ANC to plead with them to fire Gwamanda.

However, his calls were left unanswered and not returned.

“I reached out to the ANC leadership at national and provincial level, as well as the Regional Executive Committee (REC) in Johannesburg, but they have not had the decency to even return my messages.”

Mashaba questioned why Gwamanda was only arrested in October when a warrant for his arrest was issued in May.

“This is a reflection of the capture of the criminal justice system.”

He said ActionSA would have objected to Gwamanda’s appointment as MMC if it knew about the warrant.

“Keeping him there sends a wrong message to the public.”

ANC responds to Mashaba

On the other hand, ANC regional secretary Sasa Manganye said the party believes that Gwamanda should be given a chance to prove his innocence.

“We also respect that the accused is innocent until proven otherwise.”

Manganye said he was not aware that Mashaba had tried to reach out to the ANC concerning Gwamanda’s matter.

“I do not know where he tried to reach us.”

He said Mashaba should use the right platforms when he wants to engage with coalition partners.

“I do not think when you work as a collective you must define yourself outside the collective and grandstand individually to issues.

We respect Al Jama-ah as part of the collective and we cannot engage them in a media space.”

The Citizen understands that Gwamanda will be paid while he is on special leave. He will also continue to have VIP protection.

It is not clear how long his special leave will be or when he will appear in court.

The Citizen had sent a media enquiry to the City of Johannesburg on the matter.