Commission’s grilling too soon, says Gumede
FORMER ethekwini mayor Zandile Gumede’s appearance before the ANC’S Kwazulu- Natal integrity commission allegedly got off to a rocky start when she raised concerns that it was jumping the gun.
The hearing at the ANC’S provincial headquarters was called by the head of the commission, party veteran Sipho Magwaza, to give Gumede a chance to explain herself regarding the fraud and corruption charges she is facing which emanate from a R430 million waste tender issued while she was mayor in 2017.
This follows a decision by the ANC’S national executive committee that all party members facing charges in court must step aside and subject themselves to questioning by the commission.
Independent Media was able to gather from insiders that Gumede’s sticking point was that it was too early for her to appear before the commission. She argued that if she was grilled by members of the commission, that would jeopardise her defence when her corruption trial started.
“Her argument was that it was too early for her to be appearing before the commission as even the NPA ( National Prosecuting Authority) was still scrambling to put together a charge sheet. So she said she was … raising concerns that have huge legal implications for her as any report could be used to pin her down in court,” said an insider.
Mfanafuthi Biyela, a prominent attorney, accompanied Gumede to the hearing on the basis that the ANC’S constitution allows party members to bring along another party member to a hearing even if that member is a lawyer.
Gumede would not comment on the hearing but said she was surprised that the ANC claimed that she wanted a lawyer to accompany her.
“I wonder what was the aim of leaking that false information to the media. The person ( Biyela) who was with me is an ANC member,” Gumede said.
ANC spokesperson in KZN Nhlakanipho Ntombela said the commission would compile a full report once all those facing charges had appeared before it. Among them are suspended deputy provincial chairperson Mike Mabuyakhulu and three ethekwini councillors.