On Friday 27 January 2023, the DA PR Councilor in the Letsemeg Local Municipality, Mariska Potgieter, released a media statement titled “ Speaker mum on HAWKS investigation.
“The DA in Letsemeng Local Municipality is appalled by Speaker Xolani Hani Mthukwani’s complete disregard for transparency in the investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) into the awarding of a R40million contract to a company in Bloemfontein for the upgrading of bulk water infrastructure in Koffiefontein and Ditlhake township” read the statement.
OFM News reported on 7 January 2023 that the Free State Hawks has raided the Letsemeng Local Municipality over an alleged tender fraud. The report followed a search and seizure conducted at the municipality on Thursday 6 January 2023.
According to the DA, they wrote to the municipality’s speaker on January 7, 2023, to request a special council meeting to obtain answers regarding the Hawks investigation. After the special council meeting was postponed on Tuesday, 17 January 2023, the DA alleges that the meeting was only held on January 26, 2023.
“During the special council meeting held on Thursday, January 26, 2023, it was clear that the Speaker was protecting himself and the rest of [the] ANC cadres by abusing his power in a council sitting” said Potgieter. She went on to say that the speaker refused to give all councillors a chance to speak, despite the fact that he recognized their hands. “He jumped through agenda items without providing councillors a fair opportunity to ask questions” she adds.
In the statement, Potgieter said that conduct of the speaker, Cllr. Mthukwani, in the Council and the date changes for the Special Council Meeting clearly shows that [he] has forgotten about the people of Letsemeng. “The focus of the ANC is on its cadres and not on serving the interests of the community” she wrote.
Potgieter added that “The Speaker has to be reminded that the council represents the people of Letsemeng. The community has the right to know what is going on in the Letsemeng Local Municipality. The ANC conveniently forgets the people who voted for them.”
She claims that the DA has given the ANC in the municipality enough time to respond to the allegations of corruption within the municipality. “As the DA, we will remember who voted for us, and will not stand down for corrupt ANC members who abuse their powers by trying to represent the communities of Letsemeng who voted for us” Potgieter adds.
Potgieter indicated that the DA respect the rule of the law, and that they will give the Hawks a fair opportunity to investigate [this matter]. The DA also mentioned that they intend to write to the MEC of COGTA regarding the abuse of power by Speaker, Cllr. Xolani Mthukwani.
The ongoing investigation into the allegations of corruption has sparked conversation on Letsemeng Local Municipality resident’s personal Facebook pages, as well as a Facebook group called “Koffiefonteinse Gemeenskapsblad.”
After the DA statement was shared to the Koffiefonteinse Gemeenskapsblad, a Facebook user, Mkhulu Unizma commented that “they are good at covering their tracks. The poor state of service delivery which all municipalities found themselves [in] is due to poor incompetency, cadre deployment and corruption. Its about what people can salvage from the coffers of municipality than the mandate of improving lives of the ordinary poor people.”
Another Facebook user, Mikaela Hamotumi, commented on Councillor Mariska Potgieter’s media statement on her Facebook page “gebruik jy nou alcohol Councilor Mariska Potgieter”. The Afrikaans comment can lossely be translated as “are you now using alcohol…”
At the time of going to print, iSpotDaily, has not been able to receive a comment from the municipality’s communication department . This is a developing story.
