Cope deputy president Willie Madisha and former Tshwane mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela at Tshwane House in Pretoria on 1 March 2023. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
Days after being booted out of office as Tshwane mayor, the Congress of the People (Cope) has revealed that its disgraced former member Dr Murunwa Makwarela also faced accusations of sexual assault.
Cope’s Gauteng leadership briefed the media on Monday following Makwarela’s resignation as the executive mayor and PR councillor in the City of Tshwane.
Makwarela left his position after he allegedly used a fake certificate to reverse his removal as mayor of the metropolitan municipality.
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The Pretoria High Court confirmed just hours before Makwarela resigned that it had no record of a rehabilitation insolvency certificate being issued in his name.
The former Tshwane mayor was declared insolvent in 2016.
This meant he was prohibited from holding public office when he elected as a councillor in the 2021 local government elections.
Addressing the media, Cope provincial chairperson Tom Mofokeng said the party found out that Makwarela faced allegations of sexual assault leading up to the municipal elections.
“We discovered that there are other things he didn’t disclose properly which are cases pertaining to sexual harassment.
“He was accused of [such allegations] in the City of Johannesburg when he was the chairman of the [Joburg] Market board. Before that case was finalised the elections came, he resigned and then came over to Tshwane,” he said, adding that party members were not properly vetted.
“There are people that didn’t even fill in the forms that are actually sitting in council till this day.”
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Mofokeng said the party in the province at the time wrote to Cope’s national leaders regarding Makwarela’s insolvency, but nothing was done to address the matter.
He accused Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem and the party’s deputy president Willie Madisha of interfering in the affairs of various provinces.
“Dr Makwarela enjoyed being protected by both Dennis Bloem and Madisha … for what reason we are not sure, but they have been doing this even in Ekurhuleni and in Joburg.”
Last week, Madisha placed the blame for the failure to verify Makwarela’s credentials on the Gauteng provincial leaders.
Mofokeng confirmed that the party would institute disciplinary proceedings against Makwarela.
“Because we don’t have his resignation [letter] here with us, except what we have heard in the media, we are going to make sure he appears before the [disciplinary committee] so he can give his side of the story and so that when the punishment comes, the punishment must fit the offence,” he said.
“The issue of Dr Makwarela has to be finalised very quickly. If it has to go to court, Cope will assist with everything that is needed on our side.”
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He also said that the provincial party will recommend that its national leadership lay criminal charges against Makwarela.
Mofokeng added that the party further resolved to ask its national leaders to “finalise the suspension of Bloem and Madisha”.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners laid a fraud case at the Brooklyn police station last Friday.
In his resignation letter, Makwarela said he had “instructed his lawyers” to deal with the matter.
“To protect the image of the office I occupy and the good name of the city, I have decided to remove myself from the position of mayor in the City of Tshwane.
“This is no form or admission of guilt on the prevailing public allegations, but a desire to let the city focus on service delivery and other critical business,” Makwarela said on Friday afternoon.