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6h ago
ANA and IOL reporter
Cape Town – The fact that Zandile Gumede, accused of fraud, has been asked to stand aside until her appearance before the ANC integrity committee was ridiculed by DA leader John Steenhuisen on Friday .
“If the suspension of the full salary of the former mayor of eThekwini and sworn member of the Provincial Legislature of KZN, Zandile Gumede, is the ANC’s idea of strong and principled action against corruption, then it deserves all the derogatory Twitter hashtags directed at her, “Steenhuisen said in a statement.
IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa called the decision “a disgrace and a shameful act.”
The IFP is the official opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, while the DA is the official opposition in the eThekwini metro.
“If (the ANC) wants to be taken seriously, they must be bold and determined and ask Zandile Gumede to do the honorable thing and resign, and if she refuses, show her the door as MPL,” Hlabisa said.
Gumede and 16 co-defendants, including councilors, service providers and officials, have been charged with fraud and corruption related to a Durban solid waste tendering scandal, the amount of which has risen to more than R400 million as investigations continue on the matter.
The former mayor, fired along with her administration by the ANC last year due to poor performance on the metro, is currently out on bail of R50,000.
The KwaZulu-Natal ANC said on Friday that Gumede and all other party members facing charges in a court of law would have to “step aside” from party and government roles, pending an appearance before the integrity committee. of the ANC.
His “display” in the legislature caused outrage among the public.
Hlabisa said the IFP rejected the “reckless misuse of taxpayers’ money in KZN, as evidenced by this suspension with full payment.”
“The IFP sees this movement as a mockery and slap to the people of KwaZulu-Natal. The people of KwaZulu-Natal are learning hard lessons from the ANC.
“The IFP is now asking the national leaders of the ANC to step in and show Zandile Gumede the door.”
Steenhuisen said Gumede, who is withholding the rand 1.1 million salary to which she was just promoted, makes a “total mockery” of President Ramaphosa’s solemn votes in parliament yesterday that corruption will no longer be tolerated. in your party.
“Life, it seems, is indeed one long and joyous party for the corrupt ANC cadres,” Steenhuisen said.
Just this week, the Department of Administration and Public Service (DPSA) released a report detailing the staggering amounts spent on paying the salaries of suspended public servants in provincial governments and national government departments.
“’In provincial governments alone, the tally to date is R158 million. 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 is clearly unacceptable and completely mocks President Ramaphosa’s solemn vows that corruption will no longer be tolerated in his party, a tune he has been singing for years to no avail.
“If the ANC continues to redistribute its corrupt politicians, and even promote them, as we have seen in the case of Gumede, or simply pay them a full salary to stay at home, then these votes mean nothing.
Furthermore, this suspension of Gumede only followed intense external pressure, and particularly from the DA in yesterday’s Parliamentary Questions to the president’s session. It had nothing to do with a newly discovered moral compass in the ANC.
Indeed, the desperate attempts to walk away now from the decision to promote Gumede from both the KZN provincial executive committee (PEC) and Luthuli House are almost comical.
“Now we have sources in the PEC who say that the deployment instruction came from Luthuli House, and we have the ANC undersecretary general, Jesse Duarte, demanding responses from the PEC.
The truth is that both the PEC and Casa Luthuli were perfectly happy with Gumede’s appointment, until the pressure came from outside and they had to start putting out fires.
At the time of his swearing in, the ANC, through Nhlakanipho Ntombela, assured us that his deployment had the full blessing of the Luthuli House and even went so far as to affirm it as a kind of victory for the empowerment of women.
“It is laughable statements like these that show how much disdain the ANC has for the citizens of this country …
“The president’s refusal to answer my question yesterday in Parliament about his position on the Gumede affair is another demonstration of this disdain. It also shows how sensitive this issue of dealing with the corrupt is for the ANC, because the rot has spread throughout the party.
“I am sure that we are now expected to welcome this decision to suspend Zandile Gumede, as if it were some kind of turning point in the fight against corruption. ‘
“But the Prosecutor’s Office will never welcome the flagrant evasion of real responsibility and the continued exploitation of taxpayers for the benefit of cadres who are already billionaires.
“If his mansion and the luxury cars seized from his co-defendant’s homes by the Hawks and the NPA Asset Forfeiture Unit are something to go through, Gumede will be fine without his salary.”
MESS
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