Mayor linked to crash in state car denies he was there

DA insists Umzimvubu’s Mnukwa was driving vehicle in KZN

The DA has accused the mayor of a rural municipality in the Eastern Cape of crashing a second state vehicle after he was allegedly involved in a car accident in another province on Sunday.

Sobane Mnukwa, the ANC mayor of Umzimvubu municipality, has denied he was in the car or was the driver.

Umzimvubu spokesperson Nokhanyo Zembe defended the mayor but told the Dispatch in a statement: “Preliminary investigations are under way to determine the facts around this accident.”

The crash happened in Harding, in Kwazulu-natal which is 130km away from Umzimvubu.

DA provincial deputy chair and Alfred Nzo chair, Wonga Potwana said they had reliable information that Mnukwa had crashed the governmentowned white Toyota Fortuner while taking his children to school in Amanzimtoti.

Potwana said: “He was rushed from the scene and the municipality is denying that he was driving.”

Mnukwa was contacted by the Dispatch on Tuesday. He denied having caused Sunday’s crash and a previous crash in a luxury government car in April. He said he was at work and had not been in Kwazulu-natal.

“There is no such thing, just like the first incident. There is no such because I’m at work and I was at work even then. I’ll leave it there Sir.”

His driver Zibula Mngenela told the Dispatch he had been driving the vehicle at the time of the crash, but when asked what he was doing in KZN, he requested to be called later.

“I am the one who was driving the car. Can you please call me when I’m done with this briefing I’m doing.” But then failed to answer his cellphone or respond to text messages.

In April last year, the Dispatch reported that Mnukwa crashed his government-issued Mercedes-benz ML while travelling from Qumbu towards Kwabhaca. He was suspended by the council earlier this year, but the suspension was lifted.

This was after the municipality’s ethics and rules committee investigated and established that Mnukwa had breached the code of conduct for councillors as set out in section 12 of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. The committee recommended that he be suspended.

Zembe, speaking about Sunday’s crash involving the Fortuner, also said Mnukwa was not the driver.

Zembe said the mayor’s driver, Mngenela, had been travelling alone in the Fortuner at the time of the crash.

Zembe said the municipality was waiting for a detailed accident report from the Zingolweni police station.

“There is no evidence that the mayor was in the vehicle.”

She did not say what Mngenela was doing in Kwazulunatal with the municipality’s car.

She confirmed Mnukwa had been suspended by council on December 18, but said Eastern Cape Cogta MEC Xolile Nqatha had written to the speaker of the municipality on February 18 and instructed the council to rescind the decision to suspend him. Mnukwa was back at work on February 26.

“The disciplinary processes regarding the matter are under way.”

She did not elaborate. Zembe said the damage to the Mercedes was R637,769 with an excess of R33,251, giving a total of R667,500 in damages.

“The municipality is still waiting for a detailed report from the insurance to determine the extent of the total costs of damages for the white Fortuner,” she said.

Potwana insisted that Mnukwa had driven the vehicle when it crashed, that he did not have permission to drive it and that the designated driver of the state vehicle had not been the one driving.

Potwana said: “He’s a disgrace because this is not the first time he caused an accident with a state car and we have reliable information that he was driving this vehicle, but he was not injured.”

“How did a municipal vehicle that has been assigned to the mayor leave the province without him or his driver — if he was not driving it himself.

“Our sources also tell us that he was transporting his children to a school in Amanzimtoti which is also not good.

“It’s only the designated driver who can drive that vehicle and that is when he transports the mayor on official municipal business. This car crashed in Harding and he alleges he was not there, what is that?”

He called on Nqatha to fire the “delinquent mayor”.

Cogta spokesperson Mamnkeli Ngam said: “We will await a formal report from the mayor failing which the department will write to him and ask for a full report.”

He’ sa disgrace because this is not the first time he caused an accident with a state car and we have reliable information that he was driving this vehicle