From investigating Emfuleni to seeking a council seat
Former freelance journalist Craig Kotze is standing as the Afrika Mayibuye Movement’s candidate for Ward 5 in Emfuleni. Photo: Christiaan Cloete
VANDERBIJLPARK – After years of investigating the Emfuleni Local Municipality as a freelance journalist, Craig Kotze now wants a seat on the council overseeing it.
Craig Herman Kotze (66), a former Vaalweekblad contributor, is standing as the Afrika Mayibuye Movement’s candidate for Ward 5.
“I can look at ELM through X-ray eyes,” he says, arguing that his experience in journalism and government helps him distinguish between failures of political leadership and municipal administration.
His background extends well beyond reporting.
According to Kotze, he worked as an undercover Security Branch operative during the 1980s while employed as a crime reporter and military correspondent at The Star.
He says his role involved STRATCOM, the apartheid-era unit concerned with strategic communications and psychological warfare.
His undercover role was later confirmed during Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceedings in September 1997.
Kotze subsequently served as spokesperson to ministers Adriaan Vlok, Hernus Kriel and Sidney Mufamadi, before becoming an adviser to the first SAPS national commissioner, George Fivaz, in 1995.
He says he left the police in 1999, having attained the rank of brigadier.
His subsequent consulting work included establishing an HIV/Aids programme at the steel company that became ArcelorMittal South Africa.
Later, his freelance investigative reporting for Mooivaal Media focused on municipal governance and alleged corruption.
Kotze says that work exposed the depth of Emfuleni’s problems and strengthened his belief that effective leadership could bring change.
“I want to see institutional change at Emfuleni Local Municipality. It must change.”
If elected, he says his priority would be to begin the “long, painful process” of restoring municipal functionality, with tackling corruption central to that effort.
His manifesto includes body cameras for officials, a “Citizen Eye Cam” initiative, smart meters to address estimated accounts, restrictions on municipal overtime, improved planning and business development, electricity and water price relief, and a by-law unit.
Kotze says he chose the Afrika Mayibuye Movement because he believes it offers an opportunity for new leadership and has the potential to govern effectively.
For residents, his central promise is accountability and value for the money they pay the municipality. “I will not be held to ransom by an official, because I know their tricks,” he says.
