Chikane gives Mashaba blessing to investigate wife

CHAIRMAN of the City Power board Reverend Frank Chikane has welcomed Johannesburg mayor’s investigation into the massive corruption that is allegedly linked to his wife.

Chikane said his family had nothing to hide and described the allegations against his recently retired wife, Kagiso, as a decoy to misdirect him from fighting corruption in the power utility.

Chikane held a media briefing at the utility’s head offices in Booysens, southern Johannesburg, yesterday afternoon to clear his family’s name and to reassure the public that his board was championing the fight against fraud and corruption.

The City of Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba recently launched a forensic investigation headed by Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo auditors into the utility’s tenders valued at billions of rands.

This was followed by Mashaba’s announcement this week that he had fired MMC for Infrastructure Anthony Still, saying they could not agree on how to deal with the alleged corruption at City Power.

SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) alleged that City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu approved and awarded a tender for scientific and industrial research to Chikane’s wife.

Mashaba allegedly intended to remove Xulu much to the dismay of the ANC which accused the mayor of trying to rid the City of ANC-deployed managers.

Yesterday Chikane said Xulu will continue in his position until the investigation was concluded.

“We don’t want to pre-determine things and we will wait for the investigation…,” Chikane said. He said the allegations against his wife were malicious and intended to dent his image. He had since instructed Samwu to apologise to him by Monday or else he will take legal actions.

“I’ve risked my life fighting corruption and there was a time last year when I didn’t feel safe. The issue here is not Frank Chikane or my wife. Samwu wanted me to fire the MD [Xulu] but their allegations against him were baseless. When I refuse to do so I’m being labelled as corrupt.”

He said his board welcomed Mashaba’s investigation as it worked close with their antifraud and corruption plan that has seen 874 cases being registered with police and 274 convictions since 2014.