BOSA requests Public Protector probe into Gauteng government’s corruption scheme that robbed township entrepreneurs of millions

20 August 2024

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, Good day.

I know Member Lesufi likes quotes, so here’s one for him from the Holy Scriptures:

“Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin” – You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting.

You know full well that the township entrepreneurs in Ekurhuleni have suffered at the hands of Family Tree Holdings and Kathorus Shop Owners Association.

I’m not asking you, I am telling you! You know full well what they have had to endure. Member Motara knows and Member Maile knows, yet you all continued to aid and abet your service provider, at the expense of the people you claim to help!

You know that Family Tree Holding’s implementation of the Township Economic Development Act has been riddled with lies and broken promises!

You know that they lied and said their supermarket in Thokoza is a Distribution Centre where local shop owners can stock and local manufacturers can sell their goods! Lies!

You know that they lied about the number of jobs they created and the people they have helped thus far! Lies!

You know that a report adopted by the Portfolio Committee on Economic Development in the 6th administration, recommended that a forensic investigation be conducted into their relationship with the department of Economic Development! Because they uncovered lies, lies and more lies!

And yet you shielded them, because they are your comrades. You chose them over the men and women seated in that gallery. Men and women who you approached, unprovoked, and offered to assist with money (loan or grant), stock, equipment and training. 

Men and women who were fending for themselves, struggling to compete with foreign owned shops, tough economic conditions and the aftermath of COVID.

Men and women who against all odds, ran bakeries, juice manufacturing plants, spaza shops, clothing lines in the township. You gave them false hope and then hung them out to dry.

Now you say there are delays in disbursing funds and that they don’t qualify. Firstly, they have been lied to since before the Kasi Mnotho Fund, secondly, they submitted all documentation, which was bandied about by your comrades to amass wealth and relevance and thirdly, they were given training in order for them to qualify where they didn’t before.

And if there is an administrative delay, which affected both private sector and public sector contributors to the fund, how ironic, why were entrepreneurs not even given the decency of feedback?

But they continued to be fleeced by Kathorus Shop Owners Association, which goes door to door, day and night, collecting money from widows, orphans and grant recipients in the name of empowering them! You should be ashamed of yourselves!

Repent! Change your ways, walk the talk instead of just talking the talk of township economic development. You want a bank, nihlulwa yiSpaza shop! You’re joking!

Oh, and as for us, we’ve taken this matter to the Public Protector for investigation. This is only the beginning, and we will leave no stone unturned until justice prevails.  

I said what I said, I will not be apologising. If you, family tree or Kathorus feel aggrieved, please take the matter to the nearest court of law. I dare you!

Issued by Ayanda Allie, BOSA Member in the Gauteng Legislature, 20 August 2024