Pretoria - Tshwane ANC caucus spokesperson Lesego Makhubela on Thursday stuck to his guns that Mayor Solly Msimanga was "a poster boy of corruption".
This was despite that Msimanga on Wednesday approached the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, where he initiated legal action to sue for R3 million for defamation stemming from public statements by Makhubela and party chairperson Dr Kgosi Maepa.
Maepa was in hot water for labelling Msimanga as "a poster boy of DA corruption" during a live interview on Radio 702 on August 20 2018.
Msimanga expressed the intention to sue Maepa for R2 million for making "wrongful and defamatory" remarks.
On the other hand, Makhubela faced a R1 million lawsuit for allegedly defaming Msimanga on Facebook and for circulation of a press release on September 26 entailing defamatory remarks.
On a Facebook post, Makhubela accused Msimanga of paying a contractor R30 million for work not being done.
The post read: “This week we will expose how the City of Tshwane paid a contractor R30 million for work not done at the department of housing in Tshwane.
"We will also reveal that the money was used to fund the campaign of Solly Msimanga when he challenged Athol Trollip.”
In court papers, Msimanga said the statement had suggested that he "conducted the business and affairs of the City of Tshwane in a corrupt manner by in some way influencing his position and resources of the City of Tshwane in an untoward manner".
He said the statement further suggested that he was a hypocrite as he proclaimed on election posters to fight corruption while he was corrupt himself.
He said both Maepa and Msimanga made “wrongful and defamatory” utterances to the media and on social media platforms.
Contacted for comment, Makhubela was unrepentant about what he said about Msimanga, saying he was unshaken by the legal action.
"We have described him for who he is. He is indeed a poster boy of corruption. He has hired a bodyguard and unqualified people in the municipality. We are not threatened, nor unfazed and shaken by the lawsuit," he said.
Msimanga had given both Makhubela and Maepa ten days to respond to his court papers.
Makhubela said: "We have already instructed our lawyers to begin to answer to the summons he laid against us."
On Wednesday Maepa posted on Facebook: "Executive Mayor is angry that the ANC chair and spokesman refers to him as the "Poster Boy of Corruption". Someone, please tell Mr Solly "Poster Boy of Corruption" that politics are not for the fainthearted.
"The DAs "White political gods" must be crazy. Pusha dai ding."