Unruly settlement residents accuse DA councillor of corruption

Various residents of the Kya Sand informal settlement alleged that Ward 96 councillor Matome Mafokwane is corrupt.

On 29 May the residents took to the streets to protest and they demanded that Mafokwane resigns from office or be fired by city council.

They also wanted him to be arrested with immediate effect.

Residents threatened to make Ward 96 ungovernable should officials fail to adhere to their demands.

According to Mafokwane, the protest was allegedly led by the African National Congress to secretly destabilise Ward 96.

Mafokwane stated that he was accused of pocketing bribes from contractors appointed by municipality to render services in the ward.

He was also accused of allocating jobs to the Democratic Alliance’s members and friends in all municipal projects.

Ward 96 African National Congress representative, Freddy Leketi said, “The statement made that the campaign and strike was led by the our political party is completely false, our party does not condone that behaviour and has nothing to do with what happened. I would like to believe that we, in fact, have a good relationship with the councillor as we have had some of our members work closely with him in the work that he does in the community.”

“I heard of the strike and the campaign organised by the community leaders in the informal settlement. The residents told me they held a strike because the councillor had not been fulfilling the promises he made to them,” added Leketi.

According to Ward 96 councillor Matome Mafokwane, the statement was intended to create suspicions not only about his political status but that of the Democratic Alliance.

He further stated that it was done as a means to push a political agenda from African National Congress as the previous round of elections indicated that Democratic Alliance under Mafokwane’s leadership was set to reign after the 2016 municipal elections.

“I subject myself to any investigations that seeks to test the validity of these claims. Should a need arise – I am willing to step aside during the process to ensure no interference occurs. I maintain innocence and challenge African National Congress or its vanguard to provide any evidence linking my office to corruption and fraud,” concluded Mafokwane.