Cape Town – The federal executive of the DA has decided to suspend City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille from party activities pending the outcome of ongoing investigations into a series of reports and an affidavit containing allegations of maladministration in the city, also asking her to give reasons why she shouldn’t resign as mayor. 

This comes after the conclusion of an investigation of the allegations by a subcommittee. 

The subcommittee “found sufficient management and governance-related challenges prevalent in the DA’s City of Cape Town caucus, negatively impacting the city’s mandate to govern efficiently for the people of Cape Town”, DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said in a statement on Thursday.

“In light of these developments, it was the view of the federal executive that…De Lille needed to be placed on suspension pending the outcome of these ongoing investigations. The federal executive has also asked her to supply reasons why she should not resign as the mayor,” she said.

“At this stage, no decision, other than suspension has been made, pending the provision of the reasons requested by the federal executive.”

One of the several issues the subcommittee looked into was De Lille’s shutting down of the city’s special investigations unit, which resulted in a spat between her and mayoral committee member for safety, security and social services JP Smith, News24 reported on Thursday.

Maladministration probe

The unit also unearthed shocking claims that some city councillors may have been involved in a murder and that upgrades to De Lille’s home may not have been legal.

Smith made a submission, dated August 20, about De Lille’s order to have the unit shut down, not directly making accusations against De Lille but containing claims and rumours heard from others.

In October, the DA placed De Lille and Smith on special leave from party activities in the Cape metropole.

A separate independent investigation into allegations of wrongdoing, including those of maladministration, within the city is also being conducted.

The deadline for this probe is December 29, whereafter a full report will be presented to the council.

This investigation relates to a special confidential meeting held by the city in November where is was unanimously resolved that the city’s performance audit committee be instructed to appoint an independent investigator to probe allegations against the executive director of De Lille’s office, Craig Kesson, city manager Achmat Ebrahim and Melissa Whitehead, the commissioner of the transport and urban development authority.

Tender irregularities

The three were then given seven days to provide reasons why they should not be placed on precautionary suspension, whereafter it was decided they would not be suspended.

In an affidavit, Kesson alleged that De Lille had planned to publicly discredit a senior city staffer who questioned alleged tender irregularities. 

He also claimed De Lille had asked that a report into a possible R43m loss regarding another tender be made to “go away”.

De Lille hit back via a statement, saying that Kesson’s “false” disclosures could not be viewed as the actions of a whistleblower, but were instead a criminal offence.

Van Damme said the party remained committed to clean and efficient administration where it governs.

“That is why it is of paramount importance that we get to the bottom of these allegations and swift leadership changes be made should they be found to be true so that our commitment to deliver to the people of Cape Town is not derailed.

“We believe that this is the first step towards bringing new management to the City of Cape Town caucus that is stable, functional, and focused on delivering the highest quality of services to all of its residents.”

JOHANNESBURG – The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has admitted that normal programming was disrupted on at least three of its radio stations on Thursday as a result of the ongoing workers’ strike.

#SABCStrike workers are adamant the broadcast of #ANCConference may not happen if they don’t get what they want

— malungelo booi (@malungelob) December 14, 2017

SABC employees affiliated to the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) and Communications Workers Union (CWU) resumed their strike action over salary increases on Thursday after negotiations with the public broadcaster reached a deadlock.

They are demanding a 10 percent salary increment backdated to April, while the cash-strapped broadcaster says it can afford to increase their salaries by only 4.5 percent. 

READ: SABC workers strike for higher pay

In a statement, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said that programming on radio and television had been minimally affected and was running as scheduled.

#SABCStrike Losi say management must prove that there is no money, by given themselves zero percent increase

— malungelo booi (@malungelob) December 14, 2017

There were reports that SABC’s current affairs shows and news bulletins did not air on Thursday.

“Programming on television has gone ahead as planned with no interruptions. Out of the 19 SABC radio stations, only three were affected, namely Thobela FM, Munghana Lonene FM and Ikwekwezi FM. Their respective current affairs shows did not go on air as a result of presenters pulling out of the shows at the last minute,” Kganyago said.

The SABC had received reports of intimidation of employees entering the work premises and blocking entry points, he said.

“Management views this matter in a serious light and will be engaging with the SABC’s protection services, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Joint Planning Committee to attend to this matter urgently, to ensure the safety of all employees who are not participating in the strike,” Kganyago said.

African News Agency

Cape Town – The Right2Know Campaign (R2K) on Wednesday demanded that government shed light on proposed draft regulations for a state of emergency following media reports.

R2K announced in a press statement that it submitted information requests in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the SAPS and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

News24 sister publication Rapport reported on Sunday that the Presidency appointed a task team to compile the draft regulations. However, the Presidency on Tuesday denied its involvement in any draft regulations on the matter.

READ: Presidency rejects ‘state of emergency’ reports

News24 reported on Tuesday that it had seen documents from the SANDF’s defence legal services division on the arrangements for a workshop on draft regulations to be used in the case of a state of emergency, including a document with draft regulations.

The Constitution and the State of Emergency Act prescribe the power to proclaim a state of emergency, with the accompanying regulations, to the president.

“R2K is outraged to see confirmation that a government task team has been working in secret to draft new state of emergency regulations – effectively to create preconditions for a future clampdown on public life in South Africa,” reads the organisation’s statement. 

Regulations would ‘suspend political rights’

“There is no such thing as a ‘good’ state of emergency. But the draft regulations that are circulating are especially draconian.”

R2K highlighted the following draft regulations:

• A gag on “disruptive statements” – any statement which incites people to protest or take part in civil disobedience, or which promotes “feelings of hostility” towards any person, the government or the security services;
• Provisions to effect an internet shutdown by switching off cyber and phone networks;
• Empowering members of the security services to arrest or search any person if their presence or conduct “may endanger the safety of the public or the restoration or maintenance of peace and order”.

“In other words, under a state of emergency, these regulations would suspend almost all political rights for people across South Africa,” reads R2K’s statement.

“The fact that these regulations have been drafted in secret, and to date no government bodies have owned up to their role, is especially outrageous.”

Call for immediate scrapping of proposed legislation

“All of this suggests a ruling elite that fears its people; the securocrats in the state have shown that they are increasingly willing to resort to coercion and closing down the space for open dialogue and expression.”

R2K said its PAIA requests were for records of deliberations on draft state of emergency regulations, including minutes of meetings and the draft regulations in their current form.

“R2K will continue its work to push back against securocrats tightening their hold on power. We will remain steadfastly opposed to any attempt to corrode our public sphere with bully tactics disguised as law enforcement.”

The organisation called for the regulations “in any shape and form to be scrapped and abandoned immediately”.

“This country’s real emergencies are to be found in unlit streets where women fear to walk, in classrooms where the education system is failing our children, and in crowded settlements where land and housing and decent jobs remain elusive to millions of people.

“If the government cares for its people, these are the crises it must attend to,” R2K said.

JOHANNESBURG – The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) is disputing claims made by its ethics manager about the disastrous state of its KwaZulu-Natal office.

Amar Maharaj told the Moerane commission in August that the branch was dysfunctional and cases were being closed irregularly.

Now, the police watchdog’s head of investigations has testified in response at the commission, which is probing political violence in KwaZulu-Natal.

READ: Damning testimony against IPID at Moerane Commission

Matthews Sesoko said: “If he had taken time to consult management or even those that manage investigators to explain these concepts to him then he would have understood these things. But in his haste probably to embarrass the department he decided to make these conclusions.”

Sesoko was accompanied by Ipid executive director Robert McBride and other senior officials.

While they maintain Maharaj misled the commission, they concede that more can be done to improve the workflow at the provincial office.

“In our view Mr Maharaj has not conducted himself in accordance with our prescripts,” said Sesoko

Asked if he said this with a view to taking disciplinary measures against him, Sesoko said that was a possibility.

READ: Police Commissioner talks Ipid and propaganda

Ipid has previously come under fire from witnesses at the commission, for allegedly dragging its feet in relation to police brutality at Glebelands hostel.

However, Sesoko pointed out only four cases had been registered between 2013 and 2016 – and some delays were beyond investigators’ control.

The police watchdog told the commission it is struggling with a lack of resources and an inadequate budget, but insisted cases are not being neglected.

“We can assure the public that everything we do is to ensure that this remains the institution that is seen to be fighting corruption within the police. When we started this organisation, we said we need to do our work so well that we work ourselves out of our jobs, so that the police are so clean that we are without a job,” said Sesoko.

Ipid has only 216 investigators, who deal with roughly 7,000 new cases a year, according to Sesoko.

“It does not appear to be a heavy workload. It appears to be maximum three new cases per investigator per month,” said Marumo Moerane, the commission chairperson.

But then there’s the backlog.

“There are people who have 246 cases, 238, 212, 162, so it will vary. But I think on average it is about 120 cases per investigator,” Sesoko told the commission.

Hearings continue on Thursday. 

eNCA