The truth behind #AlexShutDown movement is being revealed
7 April 2019
Following my announcement of a forensic investigation into the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP), some alarming information is coming forward, proving the vested interests of the leaders of the #AlexShutDown movement.
The leaders of the #AlexShutDown movement are the directors of a company called the Ditlodi Community Development Cooperative. These individuals left the employ of a company, Altitude Pty Ltd, who was contracted to provide community liaison services for the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP).
They left the employ of Altitude Pty Ltd shortly before the expiry of the contract between this company and the ARP, and immediately started the Ditlodi Community Development Cooperative. Within a matter of 2 months, they were then awarded a contract to continue the community liaison work for the ARP from April 2015, earning around R161 000 per month.
The appointment to provide the very same community liaison services that Altitude Pty Ltd had been contracted to provide, was for a period of 6 months. Through a series of extensions, this contract continued running until present times.
In February 2019, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) gave notice that this contract would not be extended beyond June 2019, as the funding had ceased from Provincial Government.
It is therefore no coincidence that the directors of the Ditlodi Community Development Cooperative are the ring-leaders of the protests in Alexandra.
The Directors of this company include none other than Sandile Mavundla, the ring-leader of the #AlexShutDown Movement and Tefo Raphadu, the ANC Ward Councillor.
It has nothing to do with the genuine needs of the people of Alexandra, but the extent to which the ARP has funded politically connected people at the expense of service delivery.
How else could you explain the Ditlodi Community Development Cooperative receiving money in 2019 for the ARP which ground to a halt in 2006?
What is clearly emerging is that the events in Alexandra over the past 2 weeks have little to do with the very legitimate grievances of the people of Alexandra. The protests have hijacked these grievances and been used to protect the financial interests of people who are linked to criminal wrong doing.
It certainly becomes clear as to why these individuals would want to prevent me speaking to the ordinary residents of Alexandra on these matters, or solutions to their service delivery needs.
Of interest is the discovery by our forensics team of the involvement of senior ANC leadership in Johannesburg in these protests. As to why senior ANC leadership would choose to involve themselves in protecting the financial interests of the Directors of the Ditlodi Community Development Cooperative, I am sure our investigation will find out.
Our forensic team will get to the bottom of what appears to be one of the most elaborate networks of corruption in the City of Johannesburg.
I am confident that what will arise from this will be the arrests of those implicated, and the liberation of the people of Alexandra from a criminal regime that has sought to keep them silent.
Issued by Luyanda Mfeka, Director: Mayoral Communications, Office of the Executive Mayor, 17 April 2019
