Councillor says Tshwane mayor’s visit out of order
DA GAUTENG premier candidate and Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga was embroiled in a screaming match with ANC ward councillor Matlale Mphahlele in Diepsloot yesterday for not telling her they were visiting the area.
A fuming Mphahlele arrived at the Tlhabologo Opportunity Centre, where the official opposition was showcasing its job creation initiatives with its leader, Mmusi Maimane, and Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba and told them their visit was “out of order”.
“The next time you come here, I will organise the community and it’s not going to be nice,” she threatened.
Msimanga responded: “To do what? I am saying what you are doing is so wrong. This is a community centre.”
Mphahlele said the DA should have informed her that it was visiting Ward 95.
But Msimanga told Mphahlele that her actions were wrong.
At the event, Mashaba repeated his comments about foreign-owned businesses which had previously been slammed as xenophobic.
”I used to buy bread, I used to buy meat in supermarkets, in bakeries run by our own people in our communities, in our townships, in our villages. Today I can take you around here and within five minutes you are going to find a shop being run by everybody else except a South African,” he said.
Mashaba appealed to the Diepsloot community to take advantage of the opportunity centre.
“I cannot afford a situation where I visit my family in Hammanskraal in Ramotse, I visit my family in Soweto and go and buy from a person who I don’t know. I want to buy petrol from a garage run by someone living in Soweto. I must buy bread from someone living in Ramotse, born in and a product of Ramotse. That is what we want,” he added.
Mashaba later said he was not against foreigners running businesses in the country.
“That is why we work with the South African Revenue Service (Sars), so that South African businesses are registered. Why then do we suggest that anybody else can come from anywhere in the world and their businesses are not registered?” he asked.
Mashaba suggested that the majority of foreign-owned businesses were not registered.
”Out of five businesses we find, if 10% of them are registered I’ll give you R100 000,” said the businessman-turned-politician.
Maimane said illegal immigration was a challenge and it was important that South Africa’s borders were secured.
Mashaba said he wanted to bring back the entrepreneurial spirit that existed during apartheid among black people
“Since 1994, unfortunately the ANC government has destroyed the entrepreneurial spirit of black people in this country. So we need to revitalise this,” said Mashaba.
He said the opening of four opportunity centres was part of his administration’s plan to revitalise the entrepreneurial spirit in townships across the city.
According to Mashaba, by the end of June, the city would have opened three more opportunity centres.
”We want to really focus on our people so that they understand how to run a business. That is why we have joined hands with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and Sars,” he said.