City suspends Mosola over R12bn tender controversy
ANC accuses DA of ‘punishing excellence’
The ANC in the Tshwane metro has accused the DA-led administration of purging black managers after the council approved the suspension of city manager Moeketsi Mosola for his alleged role in the R12bn GladAfrica saga.
ANC chief whip Aaron Maluleka made the accusation during the special sitting in which mayor Solly Msimanga tabled the report recommending that the city manager be suspended on Wednesday.
Bizarrely, it was the ANC that has been calling for Mosola’s suspension following the surfacing of allegations that he flouted procurement processes in awarding the tender for the management of the metro’s infrastructure projects.
“There is nothing in this report. You did not want it to be three pages so you added another page. This is a witch hunt against this official [Mosola]. It is hurtful that black excellence is punished in this manner,” Maluleka said.
He told Msimanga that his day would come, saying Mosola would speak and that it will be revealed who the real rulers of the DA were.
The EFF councillors walked out of the council sitting, accusing the DA of targeting black officials.
Msimanga said it was him the opposition was after and not Mosola. He accused the opposition, led by the ANC, of using allegations of impropriety against Mosola to get rid of him.
Msimanga said on the eve of the special sitting, he received a letter threatening him with a motion of no confidence if he tabled the report calling for Mosola’s suspension but said he will not be bullied.
“I have had a chat with my caucus. If there is a motion of no confidence that is coming, I still stand on principle. If I am removed I will go to the public with pride and my head held up high to say ‘I did not stand for wrongdoing. I did not protect wrongdoing, if there is. More importantly, I did not get bullied’,” he said.
ANC caucus spokesperson Lesego Makhubela said the speaker will receive a notice of a motion for a vote of no confidence against Msimanga.
“…the buck stops with [Msimanga] because he was part of all this. We are going to file for a vote of no confidence.”
After much bickering, council approved Msimanga’s report recommending that Mosola be suspended.
Mosola has seven days to give reasons why the decision should be reversed. A special investigator will scrutinise his decision to select GladAfrica as the sole manager for the city’s infrastructure projects if council rejects his reasons.