Pretoria - ANC councillors at the City of Tshwane have been accused of a cover-up after they allegedly refused to present to the council’s ethics committee a report about the romantic relationship between disgraced councillor Conference Ntuli and a teenage girl.
DAcouncillor Michael Shackleton said his party members requested a report with regard to Ntuli’s conduct during the Municipal Rules and Ethics Oversight Committee meeting on September 18, but they received an outright rejection from ANC members.
A report was needed “to determine whether Ntuli’s conduct could form the basis for an eventual referral to a disciplinary hearing, in terms of the code of conduct for councillors”, he said.
The objection to make such a report available to the committee has sparked suspicions that there was a move to protect the councillor, whose affair with a teenager was reported by the Pretoria News two weeks ago.
The pair was photographed kissing and their picture was circulated on social media, causing outrage among members of the public.
Ntuli is in his early 50s and the girl is said to be 18 and in Grade 10 at the Voortrekkerhoogte High School in Pretoria.
It had since come to light that the schoolgirl was younger than 16 when the affair started.
Tshwane ANC regional spokesman Teboho Joala said Ntuli has been placed on special leave.
The party had taken note of allegations of “improper and morally questionable conduct by comrade Ntuli”, he said.
The ANC Youth League, on the other hand, has plans to roll out a march against him in the next few days.
The league wanted to mobilise schools in Atteridgeville, the councillor’s home, for the march.
Shackleton said the ANC’s stance was of concern because “there was no other body in the municipality that deals with councillors’ conduct”.
The refusal to present Ntuli’s report to the committee suggested that the ANC wanted to protect the councillor from investigation, he said. The DA was deeply concerned by events which unfolded at a committee meeting, he added.
“The DA members of the Rules and Ethics Committee requested a report into the conduct of Ntuli, so that the committee could determine whether his conduct could form the basis for an eventual referral to a disciplinary hearing, in terms of the Code of Conduct for Councillors,” he said.
He accused the ANC of protecting its members “from accountability without regard for what is morally correct and honourable”.
“The DA is legitimately concerned that the actions of Councillor Ntuli will never be referred to the Municipal Rules and Ethics Oversight,” he said.
Mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said: “The call by the Democratic Alliance for a report with the conduct of Councillor Ntuli was only intended to serve the opposition’s electoral campaign opportunism as it is common cause that criminal charges have been laid against Councillor Ntuli who is yet to be appear before a court of law.”
Such a report would have “prejudiced Councillor Ntuli’s right to a free and fair trial, and contaminated probable critical information”, he said.
“As far as the city is concerned, the matter is in the domain of the law enforcement agencies and the national prosecuting services which will when they deem fit, serve him with the appropriate indictment to answer in a competent court,” he said.
Putting Ntuli “on leave of absence at the appropriate time is a demonstration” that mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa “takes the allegations with the seriousness they deserve”, he said.
Pretoria News