Tony Leon’s R300m ‘corruption spat’ with Mashaba part of battle for DA soul

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s explosive allegation that former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon tried to solicit a R300 million tender from him “is part of the bigger DA’s raging internal feud”, with Leon questioning Mashaba’s timing.

North West University politics professor Andre Duvenhage said Mashaba’s claims demonstrated the extent of the tension tearing the party’s top leadership apart, and that it was part of the symptoms of the racial divide within the party.

“The claims come in the backdrop of the dramatic panel review report calling for party leader [Mmusi] Maimane to step back and are critical of the relationship between the DA and EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] in Tshwane and Johannesburg.

“So [Mashaba’s claims] cannot be separated from the bigger DA internal strife. In fact, it indicates the level of tension between the classic liberals and the so-called black caucus in the DA,” said Duvenhage.

According to him, Gauteng is the battleground for the DA’s leadership tussle and Mashaba is right in the middle of it due to his relationship with the EFF in the Joburg metro.

City Press reported yesterday that Mashaba was unhappy with Leon’s participation in the review, commissioned by the party to interrogate the party’s dismal performance in the May 8 elections, and said he he had failed to solicit the tender for a client of his company, Resolve Communications.

Duvenhage said Mashaba’s claims also tarnished the DA, which he said had focused on hammering the ANC for corruption and that the ANC would use this to point out that there was no structure immune to corruption.

“The ANC will definitely make a huge noise out of this issue to put pressure on the DA and Maimane and will play a racial division card to say corruption is not only black and ANC,” he said.

Mashaba has refused to confirm or deny that he raised concerns about Leon’s alleged shenanigans to the party’s leadership, except to say “let’s give the party space to investigate”.

Leon, who dismissed the claims as “mendacious and without merit”, said Mashaba did not raise his issues when the panel interviewed him on July 31 or at the eight-hour discussion of the report at the federal executive.

He said it was curious that Mashaba had waited until the finalisation of the report to raise his concerns.

“One can only conclude that this is an attempt to denigrate myself and, by extension, to delegitimise the review panel’s report. I therefore reject Mr Mashaba’s false assertions with the contempt they deserve,” Leon said.

He added that the City of Johannesburg decided who it did business with and that it had nothing to do with him or the company he chairs.

Levy Ndou, political analyst at the Tshwane University of Technology, said Mashaba’s timing with the claims said everything about its intention; that of fighting back against the party’s classic liberal stance seen as hellbent on dislodging Maimane’s leadership.

He said a critical question was: if Leon approached Mashaba for the tender, why didn’t he report it then? Why would Leon approach him for the tender and what was his relationship with Leon?

“How did Leon become aware of the tender? Is he doing it to report Leon to the party leadership? But why now? Is he doing this to protect Maimane from the white caucus? I bet he did it to rally around Maimane. The timing is just too convenient,” Ndou said.

Solly Malatsi, DA spokesperson, could not be reached for comment and did not reply to messages. – siphom@citizen.co.za

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