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The South African Communist Party (SACP) in Gauteng Province calls on the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane to urgently and promptly investigate shocking and serious allegations against the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba. A formal letter has already been sent to the Public Protector through our local district of Linda Jabane (City of Johannesburg).

We are further shocked by the conspicuous silence of the DA’s bedfellows, the fast degenerating and irrelevant EFF that is slowly fading away since the days it sold-out its working class vote to the deeply corrupt and rotten racist DA.

Our principled call for an investigation follows revelations that Mayor Herman Mashaba allegedly enlisted the services of his wife’s business to assist the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in its official government business.

Mashaba has since confirmed the allegations relying on a flimsy and clumsy argument that the City did not enter into any contractual obligation with the company linked to his wife Connie Mashaba’s known as Lephatsi Financial Services.

We are deeply shocked by his ridiculous and frivolous claim that his wife’s company did not draw any financial benefit from the deal, thus suggesting a “free lunch” with a business person.

We are convinced that Mashaba’s wife’s company will unfairly benefit and earn a reputational dividend that the company can from other business deals. We believe that such an opportunity to earn reputational dividend and benefit should be open to the market consistent with the principles of competitive bids which constitute the cornerstone of our procurement policy and the constitution of our country.

It is our considered view that this deal which smells of corruption must be investigated as a matter of urgency. We have witnessed how corruption is engrained in the DNA of the Democratic Alliance as reflected by the ongoing corruption scandal in the city of Cape Town. We urge the working class in Johannesburg to rise in defence of their hard won democracy and not to allow our city to be corrupted and looted by the DA parasites as it is happening in Cape Town.   

The SACP believes that the checks and balances guaranteed by our constitution do not allow us to leave this matter swept under the carpet. It is in fact worrying that Mashaba thinks he can easily get away with using the services of their friends and families when dealing with matters of government.

In the true spirit of transparency and accountability we call on the Public Protector to urgently investigate this suspicious arrangement between friends so that the people of Johannesburg do not only rely on Mashaba’s word, but can have a full view of this deal and that the objective truth comes out in this matter.
 

Issued by the SACP Gauteng province