The minute money exchanged hands, members of the Hawks swooped down on three high-ranking members of the ANC, who were taken into custody and then charged with corruption at the Vryheid police station.
The ANC members (two of them holding important positions in the AbaQulusi Council) were allegedly caught red-handed paying a bribe to DA councillor, Magda Viktor, this afternoon.
DA provincial leader, Zwakele Mncwango, said that the DA councillor had been approached by the ANC members who wished to bring a vote of no confidence against the IFP speaker of AbaQulusi, Michael Khumalo, at a council meeting that was supposed to have taken place today.
“They initially offered her R40 000 to either vote with the ANC against the speaker, or to remain absent from the meeting. They later decreased the amount of money offered to her but promised that she would be taken care off if she lost her position in the DA,” said Mr Mncwango.
ALSO READ: Death threats have led to another director’s exit in Vryheid
In AbaQulusi, the IFP, DA, and EFF have a co-governance relationship in place to rule the council, but, together, they still only hold the majority from the ANC by two seats.
Cllr Viktor immediately alerted Mr Mncwango about the ANC’s proposition and they contacted the Hawks so that when she was handed R20 000 in cash at Vryheid Junction today, the Hawks were ready to take action.
“This is a real breakthrough in our fight against corruption in this country. If the speaker had done something wrong, why should the ANC have to pay someone to get the motion to remove him passed? It shows that they are just desperate for power. There is no place for corruption in this country,” said Mr Mncwango.
Provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo, confirmed that the three ANC members were arrested and had been charged with corruption. He said that they will spend the night in the holding cells and appear at the Vryheid Magistrates Court tomorrow morning. The Vryheid Herald will only be in a position to reveal the identities of the three who have been arrested, once they have appeared before the magistrate tomorrow.
ALSO READ: Hitmen contracted to kill Vryheid mayor
We have, however, been in touch with two of the ANC members while they were being charged at the police station, and they both declined to say anything.
ANC regional chairperson, Sbu Mhlongo, also declined to comment saying he was on his way to Vryheid from Durban having heard of what had happened, and would be in a better position to speak on behalf of his party tomorrow once he had, “gotten the gist of the story.”
Cllr Khumalo said he was very worried about the council following this incident. “It seems as if the ANC just doesn’t care about the people of AbaQulusi. I am worried and also deeply embarrassed to hear that councilors tried to bribe another councillor to make our council dysfunctional.”
He explained that the motion of no confidence in him had not been a part of today’s agenda because the ANC was vague in its correspondence with the municipal manager.
“They said they wanted a motion of no confidence because I had broken the law, so the mm wrote to the ANC to ask them to be more specific about which laws were broken before the matter is placed on the council agenda for discussion,” said Cllr Khumalo.
Mayor, Jerry Sibiya, shared Cllr Khumalo’s feelings of embarrassment, saying, “The ANC is playing dirty games to plan a coup at the municipality.”
Cllr Sibiya confided that had the ANC managed to unseat the speaker, they were likely to take control of the council meeting to unseat the mayor and deputy mayor as well.
“I suspect that they have been up to similar tricks ever since the inauguration of the council. It makes me wonder if they used their time in power to play these tricks on the community at large. The co-governance partners that run this municipality are working hard to correct all the injustices of the past. It is up to the ANC to join us to work toward the common good of AbaQulusi. I invite them to do away with this political prostitution,” said Cllr Sibiya.
“I want to thank Magda for her loyalty. She is a true ambassador for AbaQulusi and, in particular, the voters of Ward 8 should be proud to have her.”
Former chairperson of the AbaQulusi Ratepayers Association, Doug Grewar, thanked Cllr Viktor for delivering such a lovely Christmas present to AbaQulusi.
“This is such wonderful news. It exposes just how rotten the council is and we know that this kind of rubbish has been going on for a long time, but thanks to Magda’s courage, it has finally been exposed,” said Mr Grewar.
Chairperson of Vryheid AfriForum, André van der Walt, concurred, saying, “This is such good news, Corrupt politicians and bribery is the main thing that is bringing this country to its knees. We must get rid of it. It is the only way the country will stand up.”
Cllr Viktor declined to comment at the time of publishing but simply said, “I believe in what is right and wrong.”
