ANC protest organiser in trouble

CONTROVERSIAL ANC protest organiser Lazarus Maumela, who recently led the “Zuma Must Go” march, is under fire after failing to pay a worker who he allegedly employed under false pretences.

Last month, Busisiwe Makhubu approached the CCMA after Maumela fired and vowed not to pay the woman for the two months that she had worked for him. But the CCMA instructed Maumela to subsequently pay her R57 000 by last Friday, which he failed to do.

Makhubu’s relations with the controversial ANC member, who is also a church leader, started in November when she responded to Maumela’s lucrative-job advertisement.

“It was a job for a customer service consultant for his company, Faith Harvest Trading, paying R25 000 a month. “I went for the interview and was employed immediately,” Makhubu said.

Maumela hardly spent time in the office because he was busy campaigning for Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid for the ANC presidency ahead of the party’s national conference in December, Makhubu said.

She said she was taken aback when the main work she had to do was to prepare logistics for political rallies and generate invoices, which were sent to Ramaphosa’s campaign managers.

“Some of the invoices were for work that was never done. He would just send me an SMS and say I must create an invoice and we would send it to Ramaphosa’s people to get the money,” Makhubu revealed.

The Star has seen the SMS exchanges between the two in which Maumela instructed Makhubu to produce invoices, some amounting to R50 000.

Makhubu said she wasn’t paid at the end of the month despite seeing the amounts that Maumela was invoicing for his contribution to Ramaphosa’s campaign.

“When I asked him, he gave me R100 and said the money would reflect on my account soon.

“I was surprised when he hired another lady to assist me before he even paid me,” she added.

In recent years, Maumela has been accused of duping people out off their money and organising false auditions for a Christian television station that did not exist.

In December, there was a string of SMS exchanges between the two when Makhubu wanted to know about the nature of the jobs that they had been hired for, which saw Maumela depositing R6 000.

“When I asked him about this, he shouted at us, saying we must appreciate whatever amount we have.”

Maumela fired the two employees on the eve of the ANC conference, instructing Makhubu never to set foot in his offices again, after she told his fellow church leaders about his refusal to pay his employees.

The Star has seen the SMS in which Maumela criticises the employees and vows not to pay them.

“I will not pay you for that reason. I regret the day u set your foot in my office. U call pastor from Bends and u call Luolo and u call Photo. U take your mess to people. I don’t even want to here your name (sic),” one SMS said.

Numerous attempts to get a response from Maumela, including calls and visits to his Sandton premises, were unsuccessful.