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- DA leader John Steenhuisen has called Zandile Gumede’s departure from the KZN legislature a “joyous party.”
- He said the ANC continues to redistribute members accused of corruption.
- He also said that Gumede still receives a salary is an example of the money spent on suspended officials.
DA leader John Steenhuisen has described the fact that former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede stepped aside as an MPL as a “joyous party.”
He says he mocks President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement that he and the ANC will end corruption.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal announced on Friday that Gumede, who had initially been sworn in as a sitting member of the provincial legislature, had been asked to “step aside” pending the completion of her corruption case.
However, she has not resigned and will receive her full salary as the legal proceedings continue.
READ | Zuma breaks Ramaphosa’s Corruption Card
“This is clearly unacceptable and is a complete mockery of President Ramaphosa’s solemn vow that corruption will no longer be tolerated in his party, a tune he has been singing for years to no avail,” Steenhuisen said on Friday.
Steenhuisen said that if the ANC continued to redistribute politicians accused of corruption “and even promote them, as we have seen in the Gumede case, or simply pay them a full salary to stay at home, then these votes mean nothing.” .
Charges
Gumede and 17 others face fraud-related charges in a Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender case, totaling around R430 million. He is currently on bail of R50,000.
Last week, she was sent to the legislature, where Steenhuisen said she would receive an annual salary of 1.1 million rand.
“Life, it seems, is indeed a long and joyous party for the corrupt ANC cadres,” he said.
READ ALSO | ANC PEC asks Zandile Gumede, accused of corruption, to be absent
Steenhuisen also alluded to the report by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), which this week detailed how suspended civil servants in provincial governments cost taxpayers 158 million rand.
He said that between October 1 and December 31 last year, the government spent R84 million on preventive suspension cases, while it spent another R74 million in the first three months of 2020.
“This suspension of Gumede only followed intense pressure from outside, and in particular from the district attorney in yesterday’s parliamentary questions to the president’s session. It had nothing to do with a newly discovered moral compass in the ANC.”
Steenhuisen said that an attempt to turn Gumede’s appointment into a victory for women’s empowerment was a joke.
“It is laughable statements like these that show how much disdain the ANC has for the citizens of this country.”
She said that no one really believed that Gumede’s promotion had anything to do with empowering women, “but the ANC believes that they can get away with even the most outrageous twists and turns.”
READ | Zandile Gumede will continue to receive full salary while ANC asks him to step aside: pending corruption case
The project director of the Organization to Undo Fiscal Abuse (OUTA), Tim Tyrrell, said that removing Gumede from his official duties in the legislature was that the ANC was getting ahead of the people.
Indignation
“There is no doubt that this decision was made due to growing public outrage against the ruling party and the perception of the government’s inability to deal with corruption within its own ranks.
“The people have the power, but it is time to organize and be more assertive to hold those elected to represent and serve the people accountable for their conduct.”
He said the party could easily remove Gumede as MPL “since it is a political appointment and therefore does not enjoy the same protections that are granted to public and private sector employees.”
“The recent change of course of the ruling party in Gumede, the publication of all the national and provincial Covid-19 tenders and the publication of the minutes of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee have only occurred due to public pressure.
“It is only thanks to the work of civil society, courageous whistleblowers, journalists and active citizens that we are seeing a slow shift towards greater transparency and accountability.”
