Pretoria - Fundamental trust deficit in Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga was behind the sudden resignation of Lex Middelberg from the DA and Tshwane metro council, he told the Pretoria News on Thursday.
However, the DA said its former Ward 91 councillor was making up stories and the party had nothing to hide. He resigned on the eve of a disciplinary process initiated against him, the party said.
Middelberg caused a stir ahead of the August 3 local government elections when he claimed there was nepotism and promoting of romantic partners in the DA nomination list. He had been placed in a lower position, rendering him unelectable.
Now Middelberg has claimed Msimanga failed to honour the objectives reached by the party to make drastic changes after it assumed power in Tshwane.
“For example, the DA intended to freeze payments to the prepaid electricity smart meter contractor Peu Capital Partners, but millions were still being paid to the service provider every day despite the contract cancellation,” he said.
“We did our homework before the elections and identified a number of contracts that had to be cancelled in order to free up the money to allow us just to render the basic services to the people of the city, but this was not done.”
The broadband contract was one of the deals that were meant to be cancelled. He said it was also costing the city millions.
However, Msimanga’s spokesman Sam Mgobozi said the matter regarding Peu was sub judice and the city was waiting for a court ruling.
Middelberg also accused Msimanga of having made an about-turn on the decision for a total ban on the blue lights in the city and was now stating it would not apply to him.
“Helen Zille (former DA leader and Western Cape Premier) cycles to her office on Fridays; she does not use blue lights like Msimanga,” he said.
Msimanga, however, has constantly insisted that blue light convoys for politicians and city officials including himself had been banned. Middelberg does not think so.
“I walked away from the party because I cannot change it anymore. I have become too controversial within the DA to influence how the city is going to be run. I don’t foresee myself in a position to influence meaningfully how the city will be run in the next five years,” Middelberg said.
Two week ago, DA leader Mmusi Maimane, Msimanga and Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba bemoaned the state of affairs in the metros the party won. They said Tshwane was technically bankrupt. “If the city is bankrupt it means it must be placed under administration,” Middelberg said.
He said he was also surprised by the appointment of Lindiwe Kwele as an acting municipal manager by Msimanga. The DA had openly campaigned against Kwele because of her role in the ill-fated TribeOne Dinokeng music festival as the head of the project, he said.
“She simply didn’t do her work. Had she been a good municipal manager, she should have raised the warning lights beforehand.”
Middelberg said Msimanga should have made tough decisions and got rid of all the deployees by former ANC mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa.
He also accused Msimanga of keeping secret forensic reports he found in the mayoral office. The reports entailed the allegations of fraud and corruption in the former ANC administration, he said.
He said there were so many reports that Msimanga would not have had time to read them all. He added that it was against the law to withhold the reports.
But Mgobozi said Middelberg knew there was a process under way to appoint the city manager. “You can’t say you don’t like a person because of the look of her face. You must have actual basis for that and the prima facie evidence.”
DA provincial leader John Moodey challenged Middelberg to be specific about the reports he was referring to. “He is taking chances. There is nothing to hide,” he said.
Moodey said Middelberg resigned from the DA because he was scared to face the music.
He said his resignation letter was tendered on the eve of his disciplinary hearing, Moodey said.
He would not disclose the nature of charges against him because it was meant to be an internal matter.
Pretoria News