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Johannesburg - The African National Congress in Johannesburg is hampering efforts to fight corruption in the city, the Democratic Alliance claimed on Friday.
The ANC caucus walked out of a council meeting on Wednesday in an attempt to prevent quorum on two pivotal voting items in the continued fight against corruption, DA constituency head Khume Ramulifho said in a statement.
The first item was a vote to move the anti-corruption unit, headed by General Shadrack Sibiya, within the structures of the city, where it would not report to either the city manager or mayor's office.
This would strengthen its ability to investigate without fear or favour, said Ramulifho.
"Thus far, General Sibiya's team has exposed over R62m worth of fraud and corruption committed under the ANC administration in Johannesburg.
"Mayor Herman Mashaba has stated that this is just the tip of the iceberg and current investigations are looking into matters valued at billions of rand," he said.
Flaws and illegalities
The second item was a vote to appoint the new head of group risk advisory services, the city's internal audit and risk assessment body. It was weak and inefficient and the DA was trying to get a professional accountant appointed to the post.
Over the past five years, under an ANC government, there had been over R5.3bn in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the city, Ramulifho said.
The DA took over the Johannesburg metro after the local government elections in August.
According to the Auditor General's most recent report, the city had failed to pick up on 69% of irregular expenditure in the past financial year. It was only identified during an audit, he said.
"This perpetuated a culture of corruption and secrecy under the ANC in Johannesburg."
The ANC said its caucus had advised the DA coalition government about flaws and illegalities in the two items tabled on Wednesday.
The party's regional spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said the head of group risk advisory services functions had been significantly reduced and moved to a yet-to-be-established "rogue unit".
"We advised that the appointment without firstly amending the relevant structures within the staff establishment of the city will be illegal."
The DA coalition government refused to listen and forged ahead and approved the report, Matongo said.
The establishment of "Mashaba’s rogue unit" within the city was illegal because it would perform functions that were within the competence of national law enforcement agencies.
Matongo said ANC councillors refused to be party to a meeting intended to take decisions aimed at breaking council rules and the law.
"We want to place it on record that the ANC supports the fight against crime and corruption and will support any efforts to combat these. However, we will not break the law in the name of fighting crime and corruption."
