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Mpho Phalatse lays criminal charges against ANC and company owned by the metro
Phalatse alleged that money from the JPC was used by the ANC to bribe councillors to remove the DA-led coalition from power.
Former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse (centre) and councillor Bongani Nkomo after she opened a case against the ANC at the Hillbrow Police Station in Johannesburg, 12 October 2022. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Former Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse laid criminal charges at the Hillbrow Police Station on Wednesday against the ANC and the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), which is owned by the metro.
Phalatse stated that JPC paid R27 million to a company that had only been registered for two months at the time of receiving the payment in September this year. She also alleged that the money was used by the ANC to bribe councillors to remove the DA-led coalition from power in Johannesburg.
“We were reliably informed that part of this R27 million would be used to destabilise the coalition government of which I was the executive mayor, by funding the payment of bribes to councillors in order to entice them to vote against our government.”
She said she was informed in September by then Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Economic Development, Nkululeko Mbundu, about information he had received from a whistleblower.
Johannesburg Property Company
“The basis of this multimillion-rand transaction relates to a lease agreement that was contracted between the JPC and a company, to lease Proton House. The premises at Proton House were intended to be utilised as office space for the City’s Group Finance Department.
“Part of the lease agreement, according to the JPC, obliged the City to reinstate the building upon expiry or termination of the contract.”
According to Phalatse, after the contract expired, the City continued to occupy the premises and extended the lease on a monthly basis.
“When JPC issued a notice to terminate the agreement, the City was obliged to pay the landlord for reinstatements, as well as any rental arrears and interest that had been accrued.”
Phalatse said corruption should not be ignored.
“We trust that now that we have activated the necessary processes that will see this matter properly investigated, the truth of how and why the multi-party government was so hastily and illegally collapsed will become clearer.”
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