In August of this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote a letter to the ANC, addressing the barrage of accusations made against the political party and the problems which needed to be resolved. In light of this letter, there appears to be movement from not only a Government perspective but from courageous citizens as well. However, in lieu of this new overall attack on corrupt or abusive officials, are there people now taking advantage of this heightened awareness?
Read more: Has Ramaphosa seen the light, this after addressing failed ANC on years of corruption?
When looking at one of the most recent issues faced by the Government; an internal probe was set in motion in July 2020, by the ANC KZN. This followed an anonymous letter being sent to KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala.
In the letter, the author accused past provincial executive committee (PEC) member, Jomo Sibiya, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, MEC Sipho Hlomuka, and Newcastle Mayor, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba of abuse.
With immense focus being placed on gender-based violence as of late by the ANC, they immediately began looking into the matter. In fact, following the letter, a probe into the allegations was announced by the party’s provincial secretary, Mdumiseni Ntuli.
Establishing a task team, the main objective of the investigations was to ascertain the veracity and truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations which implicated the three officials.
Working on a deadline the task team had until 25 August 2020 to present their findings. This coupled with submitting their recommendations for consideration to the ANC provincial working committee.
However, despite assuring the author of the letter, her safety would be guaranteed by the task team, no one stepped forward to testify.
At a media briefing on 15 September 2020, Ntuli highlighted that the PEC has received a report from the task team responsible for the investigations. The report found that as nobody appeared before it, the allegations could not be supported.
Ntuli says the PEC welcomes the report and agrees with the investigation into the ANC’s three leaders, saying, now, the matter is officially closed.
While the investigation has come to an end, a further probe will be conducted to establish where the letter came from, thereby revealing the author. This is due to the need to determine if the letter was real or fake? This second investigation was launched as a result of the three ANC officials and their families being forced to endure substantial hardships during the investigations, due to the allegations with the authenticity of the letter not being established, as real or fake.
With the author of the letter not stepping forward and taking ownership of the allegations, one needs to wonder, was this merely a political ploy to tarnish the names of three political figures? Or was this a scared person, who mustard up some coverage to step forward, but then decided against it out of fear? As the old saying goings, “Only time will tell”.
But until such date, what are your thoughts on the matter? Leave your comments in the section below
Authors: Quinton Boucher and Calvin Swemmer
Edited: Calvin Swemmer
Comments 1
It was a political ploy to destroy these three leaders. Such a big organization should guard against entertaining faceless allegations against its leaders