ZUMA, MANTASHE AND ZULU TURN GOVERNMENT INTO "ANC PTY LTD" IN AMATHOLE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY TOILET SCANDAL
2 March 2015
The latest expose of unbridled predation on the public purse by senior ANC figures should be the last straw for a greedy government!
When Jacob Zuma appointed his close aide Lindiwe Zulu, as the minister of small business, no one expected her to become the minister of ANC family business or "ANC Pty Ltd".
The latest R631 million toilet contract is probably one of the most outrageous cases of self service by senior ANC leaders (see Dispatch report here). This case is made worse by the feigned surprise of one of the direct beneficiaries, Gwede Matashe, when he says that any inference that the contract was awarded due to political connections is malicious.
He went further to say that there were never any issues or enquiries when his wife worked for Gold Fields or PPC cement. This shows just how insulated and inured he and the ANC leadership have become from moral integrity. He doesn't seem to get it that when she worked for Gold Fields, she wasn't winning multi-million rand tenders from the state that her husband's party leads in government.
The ANC has established an internal policy that prohibits public representatives and public servants from doing business with the state. This was met with wide public support. Now what we see happening is that the very leadership that instituted this policy are now using their family members to "front" for them as they plunder the public purse. This is the worst kind of predatory behaviour imaginable.
First the ANC used Chancellor House to plump up the party coffers at the cost of the state; now that they have become greedier, they are following the president's lead at Nkandla and are lining their own pockets at the cost of the state.
This scandalous tender must be investigated by the Public Protector, the Public Service Commission and the Auditor-General.
It seems that the Amathole district municipal manager, Chris Magwangqana, has been less than honest about why the tender process was flouted and why the tender was so hastily awarded to the family members of "ANC Pty Ltd".
It also seems that the comrade's wives and children have already started spending the booty on luxury houses and motor cars, whilst seemingly forgetting to start building toilets.
This is but yet another example of what the ANC says about fighting corruption and what it actually does about it being two entirely different things.
The Nelson Mandela funeral fraud saga has dragged on for fourteen months and no one in the senior ranks of ANC leadership has spoken out about it. The ANC Integrity Commission has also not said or done anything about it. In fact, when we raised it in the State of the Province Address, we were prohibited from speaking about it. So much for fighting a war against corruption.
The DA will not rest nor leave one stone unturned until these two cases of greed and corruption are fully exposed and those responsible for any unlawful action are charged, prosecuted and sentenced.
The DA has shown that no matter how long or how tedious it is to achieve this, we will not give up until justice is served.
The DA will move motions in the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces and the Eastern Cape Legislature calling for these investigations to be conducted. We will keep up a public campaign to expose and curb this kind of self service at the cost of proper service delivery to the people who need it the most.
The ANC has shown that it puts its leaders and their families first not the people that they expect to vote for them regardless.
Statement issued by Athol Trollip, DA Eastern Cape provincial leader, and Nokonwaba Matikinca, DA Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance, March 2 2015
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