Pretoria - The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday renewed accusations of corruption and maladministration against Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga.
"It is a blue lie from an incompetent corrupt DA [Democratic Alliance] executive mayor with misplaced ambitions to become the premier of Gauteng to say he didn't know about the appointment of GladAfrica and grand theft and corruption including rapacious maladministration," ANC Tshwane regional chairperson Kgosi Maepa said in Pretoria.
"The ANC Greater Tshwane council caucus is in possession of communication between the City Manager [Moeketsi Mosola] and the executive mayor, confirming discussions dating back as early as May 2017 where the city manager Mr Moeketsi Mosola shared information about the appointment of the Enterprise Project Management Unit (ePMU), that is GladAfrica, with the Executive Mayor Mr Solly “I don’t know, I am not aware” Msimanga and his mayoral committee."
Maepa said the controversial appointment of GladAfrica became an agenda item to the mayoral committee as a result of a query by the Auditor General.
He said the ANC was in a position to prove that Msimanga was "at the centre of the ePMU GladAfrica scandal" which has rocked South Africa's administrative capital.
"The ANC is calling on the Executive Mayor to come out clean and explain to the residents of Tshwane and South Africans and explain with reasons why he lied and said that he didn't know about the appointment of GladAfrica. Another question is, did he know about the appointment of Bigen Africa, if he did what did he do about it, if he did not, why not?"
The regional ANC believes the money since paid to GladAfrica by Tshwane "illegally" is well above R250 million.
On August 21, Msimanga said he would be requesting the City's Council to suspend Mosola, and other senior officials of the municipality, as investigations into alleged tender irregularities intensify.
Earlier in August, the ANC called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign a proclamation assigning the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe all mega deals signed by the Tshwane metro, dating back to 2016.
Mosola came under fire following a Sunday Times report alleging that Ariya Project Managers' GladAfrica Group was bleeding the capital city dry, after being awarded infrastructure projects worth around R12 billion -- without following procedures.
According to the report, GladAfrica made another R250 million in consultancy fees from Tshwane's roads and transport division in the past six months.
Mosola held a press briefing insisting that nothing was untoward in the awarding of that controversial contract.