Axed Dagada could be booted out of the DA

AN EXPULSION from the DA could be next for Dr Rabelani Dagada, who was axed this week as Joburg’s head of finance over damning graft allegations.

This was confirmed by the DA’s national leadership yesterday, which also said it supported calls made by Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba that Dagada should repay the money he allegedly swindled from the city.

Mashaba dismissed Dagada on Monday as Johannesburg’s member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance.

This relates to a “jobs and tenders for pals” scandal – first revealed last year – which showed how Dagada’s long-term friend and business associate, Seth Mukwevho, was given a lucrative tender and senior positions within the city – allegedly due to Dagada’s influence.

Mashaba ordered a forensic investigation into the claims which, according to the mayor, found Dagada to have cheated the city.

These findings included undeclared conflicts of interest and nepotism; exercising of undue influence to benefit “individuals closely associated with him”; and price-fixing Dagada performed with a service provider.

The DA’s federal chairperson, James Selfe, confirmed yesterday that the party’s federal legal commission (FLC) “was currently seized with the matter” of Dagada’s expulsion from the organisation.

This follows the former MMC’s suspension as a proportional representation councillor in the DA’s Joburg council caucus, pending an investigation by the FLC.

Selfe said Dagada could be expelled from the caucus only if the FLC booted him out of the party.

He could also face suspension from the DA while the FLC deliberates his fate within the party, after Selfe said the legal body had “been given a letter requesting that he state reasons why he should not be suspended”.

Dagada refused to comment yesterday on his possible expulsion, as well as the DA supporting Mashaba’s stance to retrieve alleged graft money from him.

Mashaba said this week there was strong “evidence of the corruption and collusion” unearthed that implicated Dagada in the forensic probe.

Selfe said the DA had suffered reputational damage from the graft allegations levelled against one of its senior public servants.

“Obviously there is damage in this discovery. But it is substantially mitigated by the fact that we acted swiftly the moment we knew about the matter,” said Selfe.

“Yes, the DA does support Mayor Mashaba’s views. However, the decision to charge criminally and to recoup any monies is a prosecutorial matter to be left to the police and the courts,” he said.

The decision to recoup any monies is a prosecutorial matter left to the courts