ANC mayor's extortion: Public Protector announces full investigation
The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision of the Public Protector to launch a full investigation into the actions of Hessequa mayor Christopher Taute, who we exposed last month for his attempts to extort ANC campaign funds from local businesses.
The Public Protector, Adv. Thulisile Madonsela, said in a letter addressed to my office this morning:
"I have concluded the preliminary investigation on this matter. My decision is to proceed with a fully fledged investigation as the preliminary investigation has found that the Mayor has a case to answer."
A copy of that letter follows below.
Last month the DA revealed that Mayor Taute had written to local Hessequa businesspeople, telling them to donate to the ANC because their contracts were "made possible by this ANC-run council", and because doing so would allow them to "continue building on your good relations with this ANC-run council". We pointed out that this amounted to a thinly veiled attempt to create a corrupt relationship between these companies and the ANC, which is both unethical and illegal. That Mayor Taute wrote the letter on an official mayoral letterhead only made matters worse.
I wrote to the Public Protector asking that she investigate Mayor Taute's behaviour, particularly in reference to provisions of the Municipal Systems Act, the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, that appear to make his actions illegal.
We certainly welcome the decision by the Public Protector, and her confirmation that a prima facie case against Mayor Taute clearly exists.
I also welcome the fact that the SAPS Commercial Unit in George has confirmed that they shall be proceeding with the case in response to the original complaint I laid against Mayor Taute with the SAPS in Cape Town.
This matter needs to be remedied, and it is clear that it will be up to the Public Protector, the Police and the Cooperative Governance department to take further action. The ANC has made it clear that they believe Mayor Taute simply made an error of judgment, and will leave it at that - such a response, we believe, is a clear illustration of why a culture of corruption has become pervasive within administrations the ANC governs.
Given today's developments and the prima facie case against Mayor Taute, it would be prudent for the ANC's new leader in the Western Cape, Marius Fransman, to demonstrate that he takes President Zuma's calls to root out corruption seriously by assuming responsibility for this shameful affair and censuring Mayor Taute.
LETTER FROM THE PUBLIC PROTECTOR:
14 February 2010
Dr W James MP
DA Federal Chairperson
P.O. Box 15
Cape Town
8000
Dear Mr James
RE: REQUEST FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO BREACHES OF THE MUNICIPALITY SYSTEMS ACT, THE MUNICIPAL FINANCE MANAGEMENT ACT AND THE PREVENTION AND COMBATING OF CORRUPTION ACTIVITIES ACT BY THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF HESSEQUA LOCAL MUNICIPALITY
Your letter dated 01 February 2011 refers.
Please take note that I have concluded the preliminary investigation on this matter. My decision is to proceed with a fully fledged investigation as the preliminary investigation has found that the Mayor has a case to answer.
My Provincial Representative in the Western Cape, Adv Ruthven Janse van Rensburg is assisting me in the investigation. You are free to liaise with him about progress on this matter.
Best wishes
ADV T N MADONSELA
PUBLIC PROTECTOR OF THE
REPUBLIC SOUTH AFRICA
Statement issued by Wilmot James, MP, Democratic Alliance Federal Chairperson, February 14 2011
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