Cape Town - Government agencies are protecting Nelson Mandela Bay metro security chief Linda Mti from corruption charges, the DA in the Eastern Cape alleged on Tuesday.
Democratic Alliance Eastern Cape leader Athol Trollip accused the Eastern Cape government, Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) of involvement in this “protection” of Mti.
Mti was appointed on May 9. It however emerged in the provincial legislature that Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Fikile Xasa had not seen the documentation related to the appointment and which was meant to have been sent to him by law.
In terms of the Municipal Systems Act, the documentation was supposed to have been sent to Xasa within two weeks of the appointment. The DA said its absence meant Mayor Danny Jordaan had tried to sneak Mti into the position.
The DA objected to Mti's appointment on the grounds that Mti was being investigated for alleged corruption at the prisons department while he was commissioner there.
He allegedly benefited personally from contracts awarded to facilities management company Bosasa. According to a report the DA said was from the SIU, he received the use of a house in Midrand, and a car.
Trollip questioned how someone with two drunk driving convictions could hold the post of head of safety and security in the metro.
The metro said it was lucky to have Mti, and that there were no charges against Mti at present.
Mti was head of security for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, where Jordaan was local organising committee chief executive.
NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said he could not comment because the matter was still with the police.
Xasa's spokesperson Mmankeli Ngam said the department needed “space” to deal with the matter quietly and would report to the public when ready.
The DA said it would lay charges against Mti if nothing was done. It claimed NPA head Shaun Abrahams was ignoring questions about why Mti was not being prosecuted.
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