Former mayor taken away in handcuffs
Suspects accused of tender graft
A senior official of the troubled Mogalakwena municipality in Limpopo, who was arrested by the Hawks yesterday for allegedly receiving kickbacks, has accused the law enforcement agency of being used in political battles.
Jabu Mashamaite, deputy manager of corporate services and support, was arrested with former mayor Andrina Matsemela and 11 others, including business people.
The Hawks pounced on the suspects during a raid at various locations in Mokopane relating to more than R15m in suspected irregularities in the issuing of tenders.
Hawks spokesperson Capt Matimba Maluleke said they have also arrested five company directors and six former senior municipal officials.
“We also arrested the wife of one of the former senior officials. The suspects are accused of receiving gratification from service providers who were contracted by the municipality. In some instances, service providers were paid without doing any work,” Maluleke said.
Mashamaite, speaking to the media from the back of a police van, denied any wrongdoing, adding that his arrest is “questionable” as the ANC in the Waterberg region, where he is a member and set to contest for a position, is due to convene for an elective conference.
“This is a malicious attempt by the Hawks to force me to step aside from ANC politics. They say somebody gave me money but they don’t tell me who, how and when.
“They are abusing state resources because some of the people arrested here, including me, are innocent,” he said.
“I knew I was going to be arrested but their timing is questionable because someone who doesn’t command a huge support in the ANC is using them. But we will not give up the fight because we produced many soldiers to continue with the battle.”
Mashamaite denied the allegation that he influenced tenders and received kickbacks.
“They say I got kickbacks. How can I influence tenders when I don’t work in supply chain management? This is just a ploy to tarnish my name because we are going to conference soon.”
Maluleke dismissed suggestions that they were being used for political ends, adding that they had arrested the right people.
Matsemela’s lawyer Adv Mphafolane Koma said the charges against his client will not stick.
“For a period of a year we have been meeting with the Hawks investigators and responding to every question they asked. She has been complying with the investigations all along and maintained her innocence, which she still does,” he said.
The lawyer also accused the Hawks of “Hollywood-style arrests” by parading the suspects. “There was no need for the Hawks to parade her in public and they should have summoned her to a police station, not at the municipality where she no longer works.
“At the moment we don’t know what are the charges and she has been taken to Modimolle police station because there is no space for more detainees in Mokopane,” Koma said.
The DA caucus chairperson in the municipality, Yolande Coetzee, said: “These arrests confirm our long-standing view that there was a deliberate siphoning of public funds through corrupt activities that benefited the cabal from the governing party.”
Coetzee said the arrests and the court processes which will follow will flush out the core facts which will be instrumental to restore sound financial governance and improved service delivery for the people of Mokgalakwena.
Police said all those arrested will appear in court soon.