The Ikageng police are investigating a case of discharge of a firearm within municipal boundaries against the ANC Ward 1 councillor, Dodo Maneli.
According to Sgt Kelebogile Trom, the police spokesperson, the complainant, Daddy Maloganye, says he was with the youth of Ext. 11 and Ext. 6 on their way to Maneli’s house to hand over the memorandum on 15 March.
“They were singing a distance from the house when they saw the councillor and his wife drinking coffee in front of their home. When the group approached the councillor, he allegedly took out his firearm and fired a shot in the ground in front of their feet,” said Trom.
Two weeks ago, Maloganye told the Herald they were only enquiring about job opportunities in the new flood line project in the area.
The municipality had appointed a contractor for the flood line project. However, they had only hired the youth from Sarafina. Maloganye argued that unemployment was very high in Ext. 11, despite there being many qualified youngsters in the area.
On the previous issue, Maneli told the newspaper that the system of appointing people was transparent and fair. “The Born Free contract works across four wards – wards 1,4,18 and 27. We only needed 20 people for the contract and each ward was allocated five jobs. Ward 1 is made up of Ext. 3, part of Sarafina, part of Ext. 6 and Ext. 11. The candidates had to put their IDs in a basket. The candidates were selected through a lucky draw. That is how it worked in all four wards,” he said.
Maneli did not comment on the gun allegations.
Maloganye refuted the comments by Maneli that the system of appointing the community members was fair. “He never called a community meeting to discuss the project. The same people who had been hired for previous projects were hired again,” he objected.
