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The Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula. Photo: GCIS
- A group of ANC members working in the transport department has written to the president about alleged irregularities involving Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.
- According to the group, Mbalula’s spokeswoman Ayanda-Allie Paine has no government experience.
- The group also claims that some employees are involved in Covid-19 tenders.
In a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, a group of “ANC comrades” in the transport department lashed out at Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.
They have labeled Mbalula a “Twitter celebrity minister.”
The letter, which focused on various alleged wrongdoings in the department, follows Ramaphosa’s open letter to ANC members in which he said the ANC is the number one defendant when it comes to corruption in the country.
The group’s letter is addressed, among others, to the Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise, the Chairman of the Parliament’s Transportation Committee Mosebenzi Zwane, the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the Auditor General Kimi Makwethu and the South Africans “who still care for the country and its future. “
“We must affirm from the beginning that, despite all the issues we would bring up about his actions and behavior, the central question remains… why did the president send Fikile to such an important and strategic department?
“What criteria did the president use? Why did the president appoint well-known friends and friends of Fikile and Alec Moemi as CEO to lead the transportation sector?
“Didn’t the president foresee that corruption, nepotism, cronyism and kleptocracy were going to be the order of the day,” the group asked.
Mbalula spokeswoman Ayanda-Allie Paine said: “We welcome this movement of the faceless people behind this letter. We believe that the fair processes advocated by these agencies and the laws of our Republic will vindicate us and attest to the the robustness of our processes.
“Meanwhile, our determination to reposition this department and place it among the best performing departments with clean audit results remains steadfast.”
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The group said Mbalula’s political adviser, Lawrence Venkile, presents himself as the “alpha and omega” of the transportation sector.
“Why should everything that must be presented to Fikile go to Venkile? Venkile has usurped the powers of the deputy minister, the director general, the chief of staff and has become a de facto minister.
“Fikile is too busy, blind to see this due to his focus on being a famous Twitter and social media minister,” they said.
Regarding Mbalula’s spokesperson, Paine, the group said she has no experience in government and asked the Department of Administration and Public Service to evaluate her skills.
“Now we are convinced that the appointment of this person had everything to do with the profile of Cde Fikile, who is still a famous minister for having someone who comes from the media fraternity.
“This poor lady doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t know what a BGM is, she has no professional writing skills, and in fact most of the statements in the media were written for her by him. [departmental] communications team and credited to his name, “read the group’s letter.
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On the Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE), the group claimed that two employees were involved in bid corruption.
“We have voice notes, videos and images of everything that was done. The companies that were linked to the DG and the minister were designated as PPE providers.
“We have a list of them and especially those that inflated prices. We also have evidence showing the exchange of money between the DG and anonymous people in our [building basement] parking lot, Irene Mall and Kempton Park.
“We took this route of following the DG’s patterns because we are quite astonished by the dictatorship and decided to implement anything at all costs,” the letter said.
Presidential spokesman Tyrone Seale has not yet responded to News24’s request for comment.
