Gauteng residents will have to wait a bit longer before MEC for Local Government and Housing Humphrey Mmemezi answers to allegations of abuse of taxpayers’ money against him.
On Tuesday, Mmemezi was supposed to answer questions in the Gauteng legislature about the involvement of his official state vehicle, a BMW X5, in an accident in November.
DA spokesman on local government and housing Fred Nel wants Mmemezi to explain to the legislature who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident, why insurance has refused to pay for the damage, what the accident report number was and whether the vehicle would be sold on auction.
Mmemezi refused to answer, saying he had referred all the allegations against him to the legislature’s integrity commissioner, Dr Ralph Mgijima, for his investigations.
Mmemezi failed to provide proof of his referral to Mgijima, but acting speaker Uhuru Moiloa accepted his explanation. Moiloa acted on Tuesday because the speaker, Lindiwe Maseko, is on study leave and deputy speaker Steward Ngwenya is on an official trip to Canada.
According to Moiloa, any person investigated by the integrity commissioner or facing criminal charges would not clear his or her name in the legislature, but rather at the relevant institutions.
The legislature gave Moiloa until Friday to provide statutory reasons to support his decision not to allow Mmemezi to answer, failing which Mmemezi would be forced to answer next week.
Questions to Mmemezi about his government-issued credit card were also postponed to next week. One question relates to his purchase of more than R3 400 of groceries using the card on April 16, 2011.
Mmemezi’s counterpart, Qedani Mahlangu, the MEC for Economic Development, also faced allegations of refusing to divulge details of her purchases using an official government-issued credit card.
DA spokesman on economic development Dr Gavin Lewis said his party had made an application on March 22 to force Mahlangu to reveal the details, but she had allegedly failed to respond.
“I have been an MEC for nine years. I was never asked such questions. Why now?” asked Mahlangu. “I have always used my credit card for official business… The handbook stipulates that I can use it to entertain guests for official business.”
The Star