Deputy mayor faces R10m libel lawsuit
Suspended transport boss takes issue with WhatsApp message
SUSPENDED City transport boss Melissa Whitehead has filed a R10 million defamation lawsuit against deputy mayor Ian Neilson after he claimed in a WhatsApp message that attempts were made by Mayor Patricia de Lille to block corruption charges against her.
The Cape Argus can exclusively reveal that papers were filed in the Western Cape High Court on Friday, August 3.
At the centre of the lawsuit is a WhatsApp message in which Neilson allegedly made several “defamatory” statements against the suspended transport and urban development commissioner.
Neilson in the WhatsApp message said that the City’s Transport and Urban Development Department drafted the Freeway Precinct Project in such a way that it opened processes to corruption and that the department was run “in a cowboy fashion”.
Whitehead’s lawyer, Zurena Abrahams from Vassen Abrahams Van Leeve Attorneys, also argued that Neilson’s message also claimed that Whitehead was corrupt, dishonest, nonchalant about flouting rules and unfit to be employed in her position.
Neilson sent the WhatsApp message on July 22 to, among other people, mayco member for transport Brett Herron and the mayor.
In his message Neilson said the Freeway Precint Project – which has been cancelled – was problematic.
“Other contracts where there have been problems include the cash management of MyCiTi bus fares, the payment to Volvo for incomplete buses, and the electric bus tender (currently under investigation). Some of these were the very issues that the mayor attempted to hide under the carpet when she stopped the then City manager reporting allegations around (Whitehead) to council,” he said.
“The department seems to be run in a cowboy fashion. Other problems we have faced with this department include attempts to create a municipal entity by stealth. (Whitehead) and (Herron), however, did not relent and have driven a program of setting up (the Transport and Urban Development Authority’s) own finance department, communications department and attempted to set up their own IT department and systems. They were even permitted by the mayor to depart from the carefully crafted new corporate identity of the City that determined single City brand, logo, byline, etc,” Neilson said.
He also said the City’s systems and people were robust enough that the deviations from process were identified and driven into the open.
“The DA’s process of governance has succeeded, even when senior people (the mayor and Whitehead particularly) failed the City. The fact is the mayor not only supported and championed a tender that was openly problematic, but attempted to hide the problems when they arose,” he said.
Whitehead’s lawyer asked in a letter to Neilson that he apologise and withdraw his comments. He was given a deadline of August 1, but failed to comply.
Asked for comment, Neilson said: “I am not going to comment on the matter, but it will be opposed.”
In January, Whitehead was suspended pending an investigation.
Whitehead is facing four charges of misconduct involving tenders for buses, the loss of bus fares and nepotism. MyCiTi losses were at about R43m while Whitehead maintained it was at R33m.
It is not yet clear when the court will consider the matter.