Officials must be accountable
REACTIONS to the court appearances of Buffalo City Metro (BCM)mayor Zukiswa Ncitha, BCM ANC regional secretary Pumlani Mkolo and four others were mixed yesterday.
While township-based Sanco praised the Hawks, Buffalo City Ratepayers' Forum (BCRF) chairman Andre Swart urged people to let the law run its course.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business executive director Les Holbrook said: "People holding public office need to know that with great power and the salary comes great responsibility.
"With our bill of rights and constitution we often talk about rights, but too often forget our responsibilities. Holders of public officer are accountable. It is not OK to turn a blind eye to fraud and maladministration. The public have been saying for a long time that they are not satisfied."
Swart said: "A person is innocent until proven guilty. Let the law takes its course and if there is substantive evidence of corruption, then the law will be applied."
He also called for a much deeper investigation by the Hawks into R1-billion written off by BCM in recent years.
SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) BCM regional convener Xolani Somaca said: "Yoh! Yoh! We have been praying for this [the arrests] for a long time.
"We applaud the Hawks for acting swiftly when the image was projected that there was a lot of money laundering and looting of state resources in BCM."
DA BCM caucus leader Lance Weyer said they had noted with concern when Ncitha had ordered armed men to prevent Hawks investigators from talking to staff at City Hall about the multimillion-rand scandal.
"The ANC regional secretary, Pumlani Mkolo, a man implicated in the scandal himself, was also allowed to attend the ANC caucus meeting and instruct ANC councillors to stop a forensic investigation into the matter, and barred any discussion on the matter in council."
Weyer said the party hoped that those found guilty of looting the public purse "in the name of Tata Mandela" would be held accountable for their actions. - Mike Loewe
