By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Neil McCartney.
The chief registrar of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has confirmed that a supposed court order issued to clear embattled Tshwane mayor Murunwa Makwarela’s name is fake.
Tumelo Ledwaba, the chief registrar of the Gauteng High Court, wrote to the office of the Chief Justice on Friday saying the certificate presented by Makwarela, clearing him of his insolvency, was never issued by the court.
“I Tumelo Refiliwe Ledwaba, the chief registrar of the High Court of South Africa division in Pretoria hereby confirm that the document purporting to be an order issued by this court was never issued in our court,” Ledwaba said.
Ledwaba added that no rehabilitation certificate was ever issued for Makwarela or his wife.Makwarela used the fake certificate to reverse his removal as Tshwane mayor.
Makwarela was initially disqualified from his position as PR councillor after he could not produce a rehabilitation certificate by 7 March.
He was sequestrated in August 2016.
In terms of Section 158 (1) of the Constitution he was ineligible to hold a public office as a councillor because of his insolvency status.
Despite his sequestration, he was elected as a councillor and speaker and, on 28 February, as the mayor of Tshwane.
This week, Makwarela was reinstated after submitting a certificate of solvency rehabilitation.
The representatives of the metro’s multi-party coalition – ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, Inkatha Freedom Party, and African Christian Democratic Party – said on Friday they would be laying criminal charges against Makwarela at the Brooklyn Police Station.
“These charges relate to allegations that Makwarela knowingly supplied falsified and fraudulent documentation to the City of Tshwane,” their joint statement read.
The coalition said residents had been left “dismayed” by “shameless politicking”, and deserved for their elected representatives to be held accountable.
City of Tshwane mayors have since 2016 failed to finish their five-year terms. Former mayor Solly Msimanga, who had won the City of Tshwane for the DA in the August 2016 local government elections, resigned in January 2019 amid the GladAfrica scandal.
Msimanga’s successor, Stevens Mokgalapa, resigned in November 2019. He had assumed the mayorship in February of that same year. He stepped down after allegedly being embroiled in a sex scandal with then Tshwane MMC for roads and transport Sheila Senkubuge.