Johannesburg - The DA in the North West is seeking legal advice to act against three senior ANC provincial leaders who allegedly instructed municipalities to bear the travelling and accommodation costs of municipal officials who attended the ANC lekgotla over the weekend.
The DA wants legal advice despite the ANC having dismissed claims that it instructed municipalities to foot the bill of its senior managers.
The furore was sparked after Interim Provincial Committee co-ordinator Hlomane Chauke wrote a letter to municipalities on January 20 saying: “The municipality must take full responsibility for accommodation and travelling arrangements of its delegates to the provincial lekgotla. The purpose of the provincial lekgotla is to track the implementation of the national conference resolutions and election manifesto in your Integrated Development Plan.”
The letter was written on paper with an ANC letterhead and was signed by Chauke, but his party has since distanced itself from the instruction.
North West Premier Job Mokgoro had also given a guarantee that no municipal funds would be used to foot the travelling and accommodation costs of municipal officials attending an ANC event.
Mokgoro’s spokesperson Vuyisile Ngesi said: “The Office of the Premier rejects and condemns, with the contempt it deserves, the allegations that the North West provincial government, or any sphere of government in the province, will be liable to bear the costs of the ANC provincial lekgotla taking place in Rustenburg.”
Ngesi maintained that the allegations were “malicious and misleading at the very least”.
“There is no intention whatsoever to use state funds for party political activities for this lekgotla or any other future activity,” Ngesi said.
DA North West leader Joe McGluwa appeared unconvinced by the ANC’s rejection of Chauke’s instruction.
McGluwa said his party had written letters to the municipalities discouraging them from funding the ANC’s event, saying they would act against those found to have funded the ANC lekgotla.
“We will further seek legal advice on laying criminal charges against the three ANC interim provincial committee members responsible for extending the invitation to the provincial lekgotla, namely Hlomani Chauke (IPC co-ordinator); Susan Dantjie (speaker of the North West legislature); and Wendy Nelson (IPC fundraiser), in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.”
The DA has also asked the auditor-general to probe whether municipalities had funded the ANC provincial lekgotla held in Rustenburg over the weekend.