DA speaks up on allegations of supporting corruption

THE DEMOCRATIC Alliance’s Chairman of Zululand West, Councillor Sibusiso Nkosi, says allegations that the party  is supporting corrupt leadership is rich coming from the ANC.

This comes after the ANC called out the EFF and DA to join them in their motion of no confidence against AbaQulusi Mayor, Cllr Martin Mtshali.

“We would like to first accept the challenge from the ANC with regards to having and staying true to our principles. As the Democratic Alliance is a party of principle and constitutionalism, we accept that we need to fight corruption at all costs regardless of who is involved in that corruption,” said Cllr Nkosi.

He went on to say that, as a party, the DA is highly aware of the routes and procedures that need to be followed when a decision of suspending or removing anyone from office is taken.

“Secondly, we would like to say that this is rich coming from the ANC, a party that is a hub of corruptors and corruptees. They defended their president, who is number one in breaking the oath of office and used the public’s money to enrich himself, yet he is still the president,” he said.

Cllr Nkosi pointed out that the DA put a motion in parliament to remove the president but the ANC defended him.

Other issues he mentioned were the case of a councillor in Ward 11 at Pongola who was found guilty of stealing a municipal container for his own personal use, yet kept receiving payment for more than a year after this was brought forward.

“It comes as a surprise that these very people now come forward to discuss principles with us,” said Cllr Nkosi.

In conclusion, Cllr Nkosi said that the issues that were arising were not just about challenging principles, they were about contesting power.

“These are people who are just sorry losers and trying to govern at all costs. They don’t want to fight corruption, they just want to govern at all costs and we are aware that they want the Mayor to be removed from office without following due procedure. As a party, we are aware of how doing this has cost the municipality millions in the past, for example, the same was done during the removal of MM Ntanzi and a lot of money was lost in terms of court fees and we don’t want the same to be done now,” said Cllr Nkosi.

In conclusion, Cllr Nkosi said that proper procedure needed to be followed so that the municipality is run according to the books.

“It is not about defending individuals, it is rather about understanding that we cannot run a parallel process while the Department of Education is busy with their investigations, we can’t run another process,” he said.