Urgent clarity needed on DA corruption

25 January 2017

The ANC says the DA must come clean on two senior municipal councillors in Cape Town who were found guilty of corruption and fraud by that party’s own federal executive. It reportedly relates to serious charges of inflated claims and kickbacks from suppliers during the municipal election.

The DA has yet to take the public into its confidence after dealing behind closed doors with Cape Town DA chief whip (also the DA’s metro chairman) Shaun August and Sub Council 16 chairman Matthew Kempthorne. They were both fined R50 000 each and received a suspended suspension. The DA must still tell the public why and how it is going to deal with this and other transgressions in future.

Western Cape ANC spokesperson on local government Richard Dyantyi says: “The ANC calls on the DA provincial leader (and Cape Town mayor) Patricia de Lille to publicly confirm that criminal charges were laid against the two errant members in her caucus, that the DA has removed them from public office, that measures were put in place to prevent future excesses and block such dishonest candidates from holding public office.

“The double standard DA is fast to put pressure on the ANC to kick out or fire members who transgress while the DA laid criminal charges against ANC members. But, the DA has so far only given their own errant public representatives a penalty and a slap on the wrist in private. In the light of this serious matter, the DA is reminded that by law it has to report corruption or be charged for not doing so. The ANC would like to get the SAPS CAS number to verify that the charges were indeed recorded.

“The ANC is also aware that the DA has become a nepotistic haven for family and friends of the erstwhile Independent Democrats (ID) which latched onto the DA. If erstwhile ID leader De Lille did not act against these two, why is she again protecting a former ID ally August, who is said to be imposed on DA councillors for the position of chief whip. The DA is already internally accused of being corrupt by giving shelter to certain members and should now rush to clarify these questions.”

Issued by Cobus Grobler on behalf of ANC WC, 25 January 2017