Mayor’s office denies claims of Covid-19 slush funds
THE CITY has denied Good party MPL Brett Herron’s claim of the existence of a conspiracy to misappropriate and launder the City’s Covid-19 relief monies to create a political slush fund.
Writing to Mayor Dan Plato in his capacity as both mayor and DA regional chairperson, Herron called for clarity on the alleged conspiracy and for further information on the City's Covid-19 relief funds.
Herron said: “Conspirators allegedly include very senior colleagues of Plato’s in DA structures in Atlantis, city councillors, City staff and a church in Table View. It is unclear if the slush fund was intended to grease an internal DA campaign, or be used for DA party purposes. The Good party has established that a criminal investigation is under way and one senior DA member in Atlantis has already been arrested. A case has been registered (case number 392/11/2020) and more arrests are expected to follow.”
In December last year the Hawks arrested the director of an NGO who allegedly defrauded the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme in Atlantis.
On Friday, mayoral spokesperson Greg Wagner said: “There is no truth to the false allegations made by the MPL. The City’s Covid-19 relief fund is fully audited and every cent can be accounted for.
“The arrest referred to in Atlantis is not related to any of the City’s food relief programmes and a simple enquiry with the SAPS could have confirmed this.
“The City’s spending on humanitarian relief includes approximately R14 million from the Mayor’s Relief Fund spent to support a major food relief drive.”
Wagner said R10m grant-in-aid funding was approved in January by the City and is being rolled out to 14 qualifying registered NGOs, public benefit organisations or NPOs that applied to issue relief within the municipal boundaries of the City to prepare and distribute cooked meals directly to vulnerable communities.