Zandile Gumede
21 August 2020
Zandile Gumede, has been appointed to KwaZulu-Natal Legislature by the ruling party ANC. She replaces Ricardo Mthembu, who died from Covid19 complications last month.
She served as eThekwini mayor between 2016 and 2019. She was arrested in May 2019 on charges of corruption. She is currently out on $29,000 bail for her alleged role in a Durban Solid Waste tender scandal that involved other councillors, officials, and service providers. The value of the tender amounted to $250 million.
Her case has been in court for more than a year and her case keeps on being postponed because the prosecutors have not been able to present any charges against her. This may be due to corruption or inefficiency in the public prosecutor’s office.
She was removed from the position of City mayor on 3 September 2019 by the ANC for poor performance of the municipality. Following her removal as mayor she remained in the council as a proportional representation councillor.
With the appointment to the provincial legislature her earnings will now drastically increase. As an ordinary councillor she earned a gross salary of about $297,000 per annum. As a Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, her gross salary will be $638,000 as well as several perks such as 24 free flights a year and various other allowances.
ANC has not demonstrated that it is interested in curbing corruption in the country. But on the contrary, it is protecting its high-ranking corrupt members. President Ramaphosa is well aware of the corruption in the party. He called for a panel led by former president Kgalema Motlanthe to scrutinise deals secured by ANC officials, but was spurned at a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee. It is obvious that the party does not want its members to be clean.
Not a single high-profile politician has been convicted in connection with the theft of more than $290 billion from the state during former president Jacob Zuma’s rule, and the ANC hasn’t expelled any of the implicated members.
For example, no action has been taken against the following persons who allegedly were involved in corrupt activities. They still hold positions of influence.
Tina Joemat-Pettersson was accused of spending $87,000 on a family holiday in Sweden. She also racked up a bill of more than $348,000 at two top hotels in Johannesburg. These are in violation of the provisions of the Ministerial Handbook. During Jacob Zuma’s rule she was accused of irregular awarding of a $800 million fisheries patrol contract. It was alleged that Joemat-Pettersson took kick-back for arranging the purchase of a game farm for disadvantaged women worth an estimated $10 million.
Neither Jacob Zuma nor Ramaphosa took any action against her. She is now chairperson of the Police Committee in the National Assembly
Bongani Bongo was accused of offering a bribe to advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, evidence leader of Parliament’s inquiry into state capture at Eskom. He was also implicated in a Hawks investigation relating to alleged corrupt land transactions in which he earned a $174,000 deposit for a BMW. He is now chairperson of the Home Affairs Committee in the National Assembly.
Ms Azwihangwisi Faith Muthambi was found incompetent and guilty of misleading parliament by an ad hoc Parliamentary committee. She failed to explain the $174,000 she spent on transport costs for friends and family to watch her deliver a speech. She is now chairperson of the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Committee in the National Assembly.
Mosebenzi Zwane is accused of abusing his position of power as minister to the benefit of the Gupta family and their associates in the landing of their wedding guests at Air Force Base Waterkloof in April 2013. The UK NGO Shadow World Investigations claimed that Mosebenzi Zwane, allegedly received benefits worth $290,000 from Gupta companies a month after a 99-year lease was signed with the Guptas for the Estina farm. He is now chairperson of the Transport Committee in the National Assembly.
businesstech.co.za reported.
