uMlalazi mayor in KZN denies election tender kickback accusations

A furious Johannesburg businessman has made startling claims that uMlalazi Mayor TB Zulu has reneged on a promise of favouring him with “tender facilitation” as reward for the use of the businessman’s bakkie for campaigning purposes during last year’s local government elections, Zululand Observer reports.

An angry Mdu Ncube stormed into regional paper Zululand Observer offices on Monday to “expose Zulu for blindfolding me”.

“When the then ANC Musa Dladla Region Youth League chairperson told me the mayor of uMlalazi needed someone with a van to use for campaigning for the party and promised kickbacks, I agreed.

“I gave Zulu the vehicle in February last year. He said he wanted to ensure the Nkandla municipality comes back into the hands of the ANC and that the uMlalazi Municipality should be ruled by the ANC without a NFP coalition,” Ncube claims.

He said the mayor used his bakkie for seven months, and when it was returned, it was damaged and the tyres worn out.

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Ncube said when he took the van for a major service at Toyota, it cost him a hefty R5 000. He had to buy new tyres for R11 600 and had to pay a further R21 000 for panelbeating .

“I’m not doing this because I want to tarnish Zulu’s reputation, but I want him to pay for making promises he can’t keep,” Ncube said.

He referred to four tender advertisements he alleged Zulu had advised him to apply for.

One was the fencing of two gardens at two wards in eShowe, one for refuse removal in eShowe, another for moving waste material from Mtunzini to Empangeni and the last one was for municipal employee uniform samples.

Zulu denied having promised Ncube any tender assistance, saying as the mayor, he did not have anything to do with tender awarding. It is the job of supply-chain management.

“I think Ncube is bitter about something, and now he is putting all the blame on me,” Zulu said.

– Caxton News Service

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