Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Gary van Niekerk is threatening to lay charges of fraud and crimen injuria against the Eastern Cape leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Lance Grootboom.

He said Grootboom attempted to tarnish his name and that of his chief of staff, Vasu Padayachee, misleading the public in the process.

Van Niekerk's allegations stem from the fraud charges that Grootboom laid against him in September. 

Grootboom alleged that Van Niekerk, although he was not the speaker of the Nelson Mandela Bay council for several months in 2022, used the official letterhead and signatory of the office to appoint Boqwana Burns Attorneys and rack up legal bills to the tune of R551 586.

The Hawks then took over the investigation.

To support his claims, Grootboom referred to a leaked screenshot that shows correspondence between the personal assistant to one of the partners at Boqwana Burns Inc and Padayachee, indicating that "the mayor's name had already been removed" from a statement and invoices she had sent following a telephone conversation with Padayachee.

The subject line of the email reads: "Outstanding tax invoices due to Boqwana Burns."

Van Niekerk countered that reports that he had instructed his name to be removed from invoices were deliberately presented out of context.

He explained that the invoices should not have been addressed to him personally in the first place because he did not use the firm's services for his personal benefit, but for municipal business.

Therefore, Padayachee requested that the invoices be addressed to the municipality. 

Van Niekerk told News24 on Thursday that Grootboom shared the screenshot on social media, but removed the date – 3 August 2023.

According to Van Niekerk, Grootboom hid the date because he wanted to make everyone believe that Van Niekerk and Padayachee only asked for changes to the invoices after Grootboom laid a charge of fraud against Van Niekerk.

Grootboom laid the charges on 12 September 2023.

"We received the email, and Vasu [Padayachee] requested the necessary changes on 3 August 2023, long before councillor Grootboom laid any charges. The impression Grootboom is trying to create is that we are committing fraud after he made the case against me.

"The original email has a date on, but [Grootboom] cut the date out purposely on the one he shared in order to correspond with his argument.

"He is misleading the public and trying to tarnish our names, which is huge for us. He is trying to harm my reputation," Van Niekerk said.

Van Niekerk also referred to instances during council meetings where Grootboom referred to him as "a criminal" before being reprimanded by the speaker and asked to withdraw, whereafter Grootboom would use the word "alleged".

"He is doing all of these things to create the impression that I am someone who is trying to defraud the municipality," he added.

When approached for comment, Grootboom said the mere fact that the Hawks are investigating the fraud allegations against Van Niekerk means there must be substance to it.

He added that Van Niekerk has every right to open a case but "hopes Van Niekerk won't use council's money again".

Grootboom said since there is a case against Van Niekerk, he can call him an alleged criminal. He said when he used the word "criminal" to refer to Van Niekerk, he withdrew it and only used "alleged" afterwards.

He maintains that the important issue is not the screenshot of the email, but rather Van Niekerk appointing a lawyer on behalf of the municipality when his position was in question and without the permission of the city manager.

"That is the most important part, nothing else is important. I made an oath to report any possible incident of alleged fraud or corruption. If I don't do that, I am also a criminal," Grootboom said.

Van Niekerk, who is in Cape Town, said he would lay charges against Grootboom as soon as he returned on Saturday.