Polokwane mayor gives food parcels only to ANC wards – EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Limpopo has accused the South African Local Government Association (Salga) president Thembi Nkadimeng of using food parcels meant for the poor for her own political gain.

The EFF on Wednesday accused Nkadimeng, who is also mayor of Polokwane municipality, of using political polarisation in the awarding of the food parcels only to ANC wards. The parcels were donated by Anglo Platinum to feed people from indigent families during the national lockdown.

The party called on the Polokwane municipality to take action against Nkadimeng, saying she was not fit to hold public office.

According to a statement released by the provincial leadership of the EFF, the food parcels were supposed to benefit 45 wards following the indigent policy of the municipality – but only 21 wards benefitted.

“The mayor deliberately excluded wards that were supposed to benefit from the donation for food parcels purely for political expedience,” said EFF provincial chairperson Jossey Buthane.

According to Buthane, the EFF received a list of wards which stood to benefit from the donation.

“When we finally confronted Nkadimeng on the matter, she alleged that she had reached an agreement with the mining company regarding the wards that should benefit from the donation. But, ironically, the manager flatly denied ever having discussed the determination of beneficiaries with her,” said Buthane.

“We call upon the Anglo Platinum mine to investigate this matter and we further call upon the Polokwane council to take firm action against this corrupt mayor.”

Nkadimeng on Wednesday rejected the EFF’s accusations, saying the party’s claims were false and malicious.

“The food parcels are not allocated on political partisanship. The determination is based on the neediest as per criteria of Anglo and the municipal indigent policy,” she said in a statement.

Nkadimeng said the EFF’s ward was also included on the list, but “unfortunately the donation received could not cover all wards at once”.

– alexm@citizen.co.za

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