Former DA member faces charges

THE ANC in Johannesburg has laid a criminal complaint against former member of the mayoral council (MMC) for economic development Sharon Peetz in a bid to recover about R40 000.

Peetz‚ a former DA member fired in August by Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba for suspected misconduct‚ allegedly took her mother‚ Susan Peterson‚ on an official trip to Barcelona‚ Spain, last year as a member of the city’s official delegation‚ at taxpayers’ expense.

Peetz was also stripped of her party membership.

The ANC alleges that Peetz falsified a proof of payment to a travel agency to appear that she‚ and not the city‚ paid for her mother to accompany her on the official trip. “When we did our investigation‚ it showed that the said official was never employed by the city‚ and Susan Peterson is the mother of the former MMC‚” ANC chief whip in Johannesburg Solly Mogase said.

He was speaking outside the Jeppe police station after laying the complaint yesterday afternoon.

“An amount of R40 000 was spent‚ and she claimed that she put in money through [a travel] agent that was preparing that trip.

“It has come to our attention that she [presented] council [with] false information‚” Mogase said.

In August‚ Mashaba dismissed Peetz from her portfolio‚ despite a forensic investigation that revealed that the payment was still outstanding to the travel agency‚ so the city had not suffered any monetary losses.