Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala has slammed the DA for defamation after the party accused him of lying about the arrests made against construction mafia syndicates.
On Sunday, the party accused Zikalala of lying about the arrests made against “construction mafia” syndicates.
In April, Zikalala sounded a warning against construction mafias, saying he would act harshly against them as they are sabotaging the delivery of infrastructure.
This was followed by his announcement on June 24 reporting there had been more than 200 arrests made in connection with construction mafia syndicates countrywide.
These are armed groups who disrupt government building projects and demand money before allowing work to continue.
However, on Sunday, through the party’s spokesperson on public works, Sello Seitlholo accused the Zikalala of lying about the number of arrests effected by the police.
“The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sihle Zikalala, lied when he made false and misleading claims that over 200 individuals who were alleged to be part of the construction mafia have been arrested to date. The SAPS has failed to corroborate his claims, leaving the DA with no option but to conclude that there are no records of arrests to confirm the 200 arrests,” Seitlholo said.
Seitlhoholo called on Zikalala to be transparent and account for these arrests, adding that this was another ploy to mislead South Africans.
“Zikalala must be held accountable for deliberately going out of his way to mislead the nation through false information. The DA will use the next available opportunity when Zikalala is due to appear before the portfolio committee of public works and infrastructure, to demand that he own up to his lies and publicly apologises for deliberately misinforming the country,” he said.
He said said the party intended to refer the matter to Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interest.
“If Zikalala refuses to acknowledge his false crime statistics, the DA will refer the case to Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interest and request that they investigate the potential violation of the Executive Members’ Ethics Act and code of conduct by the minister.”
The party added it had on July 10 submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application to SAPS requesting that they provide them with a breakdown of the specific construction projects that were targeted as well as the related category of crimes for which the 200 individuals who were alleged to be part of the construction mafia were arrested.
The DA said even the SAPS had failed to show records of the arrests.
“Not only did SAPS fail to provide records on proofs of arrest to substantiate the 200 arrests claim, they wrote to the DA to ask for an extra 30 days to look for the information. As the 30 days has lapsed with no further communication from SAPS, it is clear that records of the 200 arrests are non-existent,“ Seitlholo added.
However, the department called on the DA to apologise and retract its statement over these false accusations against the minister, with spokesperson for the department Lennox Mabaso saying this was yet more DA propaganda aimed at painting the minister in a bad light.
“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has demanded that the Democratic Alliance retracts its defaming and fallacious statement accusing the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala of lying about the over 200 construction mafia related arrests.
“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has labelled the DA statement as yet another dose of untruthful and misleading propaganda. It is yet another act of desperation to defame the government fuelled by its own delusion and obsession to be purveyors of fake news,“ Mabaso said.
Mabaso said under normal circumstances, the minister would not respond to these false accusations.
“We are responding because the media and the public at large have now become victims of being infected with falsehoods and propaganda and we respond to protect the vulnerable members of the public.
“The department confirms that its information that there are over 200 arrests made by the police involving work of the construction mafia is correct and authenticated by official documents in its possession,” Mabaso added.