Exposing DA’s rot

THE latest missive from Mayco member JP Smith (May 12) is a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the DA’s woes as the ANC successfully pokes holes in its crumbling facade.

Smith continues to beat his own drum by claiming that he was the whistleblower regarding the payments to and alleged extortion by Manenberg gangsters, despite him not presenting any evidence to the police’s operation combat unit for further investigation.

SAPS cannot act on “information” and rumours – there needs to be a complainant with a statement under oath – something which Smith failed to produce after being aware of the allegations for more than five months. By law, there is also an obligation to report certain information in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA). A number of people have approached me in confidence with a common thread – they are petrified of going public as they are scared of certain politicians with vested interests among gangs on the Cape Flats.

Smith further claims that “it is unclear whether any laws were broken”. Yet in the same week the National Prosecuting Authority succeeded in proving that George “Geweld” Thomas and 16 co-accused were members of a criminal organisation – a basic requirement of POCA. Thomas was found guilty on 53 charges.

When the Social Justice Coalition led evidence at the Khayelitsha Commission on Policing, it referred to the relationship between Khayelitsha’s degrading socio-economic conditions and its high levels of violent crime, and by extension the failure of the City of Cape Townto address these failures (source: BDlive).

First Premier Helen Zille referred to me as a troll; then former DA MPL Robin Carlisle called me an a****** when I blew the whistle on the Filcon scandal. Now JP Smith publicly refers to me as a stooge. These compliments will merely spur me on to continue to expose the rot inside the local DA administration.