By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The newly elected mayor of City of Johannesburg Kabelo Gwamanda is facing allegations that he may have been involved in a “funeral investment” scam.
Gwamanda was elected as the city’s new mayor during a special council sitting on Friday.
But a mere two days after being elected as mayor, allegations of fraud have surfaced against Gwamanda.
The DA’s Fred Nel says Gwamanda needs to come clean and prove whether the allegations of his involvement in a dodgy funeral investment scheme are true.
“The DA is of the opinion that the mayor needs to come clean as to whether these allegations against him is true or not so that it can be put beyond doubt the DA will also be referring the matter to the speaker for investigation.”
“We are very concerned that these are serious allegations that could even lead to criminal charges are if it’s found to be true and unless this matter is cleared up the DA is very concerned about mayor Gwamanda’s ability to manage the city and its major budget of R70 billion.”
Al Jama-ah President Ganief Hendricks has accused the DA of playing dirty politics by raising allegations of fraud against Gwamanda.
Hendricks said the allegations made against Gwamanda are false.
“The allegations are frivolous; the allegations are false. It’s dirty politics by Dr (Mpho) Phalatse because she has been rejected twice by the residents of the city, they are not going to believe her as we as Al Jama-ah vet our candidates. We felt that we needed independent vetting and we asked the African National Congress to do so as well.”
He added that it’s Phalatse who should be arrested if she opened a case.
“I hope that if she goes to the police station and actually lays a charge, they actually arrest her for frivolous allegations and wasting the time of the police, the police have more important work to do.”
Fullview understands that the mayor’s office was still drafting a response to the allegations.
Gwamanda and his mayoral committee were expected to hit the ground running this week. The MMCs on Gwamanda’s mayoral committee are the same ones that served on former mayor Thapelo Amad’s committee.
“We wish to express our sincere apologies for the anxiety and instability the recent events in the city have caused the residents of Johannesburg,” Gwamanda said in a statement.
Gwamanda said the Government of Local Unity would do its best to ensure the best service delivery to residents of Johannesburg.