Jobs for pals scandal at City Power Must be Independently Investigated

6 July 2021

Allegations of a jobs for pals scandal at City Power, involving 200 Trade Assistants positions must be independently investigated to ensure that the truth behind the allegations is uncovered.

Yesterday, a group of disgruntled applicants protested outside City Power alleging that, despite a formal application process, the entity had employed persons who paid R3500 each to secure employment.

With the ANC’s corrupt Geoff Makhubo moonlighting as the Mayor of Johannesburg, residents have no reason to trust that an investigation overseen by Makhubo’s administration would have any credibility. Surely, corruption within the City of Johannesburg can never come to an end when, at the very top, the Mayor is one of the most corrupt individuals.

Criminality and corruption have spread like a cancer throughout the ANC, metastasising into every nook and cranny of the organisation. The is no reason to believe that, under Makhubo, this criminality and corruption has not spread to Johannesburg’s entities.

If the “investigation” undertaken by City Power is to have of any credibility, it must: 

be conducted through an independent investigation authority;

a timeline for the investigation must be set and publicly communicated; and 

City Power must commit to subjecting the outcomes of the investigation to public scrutiny.

A failure to do these basic things would cast serious doubt on the credibility of any investigation undertaken. Residents are GAVTOL of the corruption of the ANC and simply deserve better.

In 2016, when I was elected to the Office of the Executive Mayor for the City of Johannesburg, the multi-party coalition government quickly uncovered cases of corruption that past ANC administrations swept under the carpet to protect themselves and their cronies. That is why the multi-party coalition government established an independent forensic investigations unit charged with investigating over 6000 cases of corruption totalling more than R35 billion in transactions, most of which transpired under the ANC. 

Ultimately, corruption within the city’s entities only serves to breed incompetence and hamper service delivery. Joburg residents continue to suffer from prolonged power outages, despite the rise in the cost of power.  

The present situation will not change if the looting and corrupt ANC is in charge. The only resolution to this problem is to unseat the ANC and elect a competent and caring government that will prioritise clean governance and the provision of services to residents.

ActionSA stands ready to provide an alternative to the broken political system that has failed the residents of Johannesburg. 

ActionSA looks forward to contesting the Local Government Elections later this year, where the residents of Johannesburg will have the power to reclaim their city from the selfish, the criminal and the corrupt.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 6 July 2021