Mbombela local municipality mayor Lassy Chiwayo has accused ANC members of orchestrating his removal for refusing to hire their relatives and drop charges against former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, who was dismissed late last year. Chiwayo was speaking to journalists during a press conference yesterday after the Ehlanzeni regional executive council announced its recommendation to recall him as mayor on Wednesday. "There are senior ANC members who sit in the provincial executive committee (PEC) who warned me that I will be removed if I don't follow their instructions. Similar threats also came from the regional executive council (REC), who wanted me to appoint certain individuals," said Chiwayo.
He said the REC's secretary, Pat Ngomane, deputy chairman Peter Nyoni and regional working committee member Bheki Zulu were behind the calls to remove him. "These three comrades told me that I should restructure my entire mayoral committee, remove the deputy mayor (Nackie Ndlovu) and replace her with Nyoni's wife (Jester Sidel)," he said.
Chiwayo said he was also instructed at PEC level to sweep the Dladla matter under the carpet. He repeated that slain Mbombela Speaker Jimmy Mohlala was "executed" days before testifying in the disciplinary hearings against Dladla, who had a string of charges laid against him, and said it was clear that Dladla had been placed at Mbombela to become a "channel for looting". Chiwayo specifically mentioned that he had received "strict instructions" to suspend all disciplinary actions against Dladla. "I was warned that I will be removed as mayor if I don't suspended the disciplinary action. I refused and when he was found guilty and dismissed I was given instruction to either reinstate him or give him a golden handshake," he said.
Chiwayo said Mpumalanga's status as a 2010 World Cup host province had "erupted into chaos" and become "a curse to its own people". "The opportunity to host the 2010 World Cup is an international gift that was aimed at unifying our people, but now it has become a curse because of greed and power-mongering," said Chiwayo. "We have people dying on Mbombela soil because of tenders. It's as if there's an evil force that is thirsty for blood, a devil that has become a challenge for us to fight. These people decide who gets employed, where a tender should go and, if you defy them, you become a target." Chiwayo revealed that he had written a detailed report to the ANC, the national government and the National Intelligence Agency about the "power madness" in Mpumalanga.
Provincial secretary Lucky Ndinisa said the REC's recommendation had not yet been tabled. "That recommendation does not stand as a decision of the PEC. It will come to the PEC and we will look at it. As far as we are concerned, comrade Chiwayo remains Nelspruit's mayor," said Ndinisa.
Source: The Star
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