DerekT @derektward1 - Twitter Profile

30 days ago

Imagine the disappointment of folks who voted for Herman Mashaba and ActionSA in the 2021 local government election. In his brash and blustering style, Mashaba promised to bring an end to the venality and corruption of the ANC in Gauteng metros. He professed to be a disruptor and invited the support of voters who were “gatvol of politics”. But Mashaba and his people have turned out to be the biggest bullshitters of them all. Instead of being a counterforce to the ANC and its network of deployed cadres and tenderpreneurs in the metros, ActionSA has become its stooges, enablers, and collaborators. In October 2024, Mashaba struck a deal with the ANC and the EFF in Tshwane, bringing the city's DA-led coalition to a fall. In terms of the deal, the ANC and the EFF would dominate the mayoral committee, but ActionSA's Nasiphi Moya would serve as mayor. Although Mashaba was fairly shameless about his political manoeuvring in Tshwane, he had to devise a story explaining why people had to bother voting for ActionSA if they could simply vote for the ANC. Moya was going to be a bulwark against the abuse of her new coalition partners, so ActionSA implied. She was going to make Tshwane different from other municipalities misgoverned by these parties. So much for the story. This week Moya turned on the one senior official in Tshwane who could’ve helped her to dismantle the systemic corruption in the municipal administration of the nation’s capital. City manager Johann Mettler has a sterling reputation for good governance and standing up to corruption, that’s why he lost his job under the “Coalition of Corruption” in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2017/18 (he eventually secured a settlement in his favour). History repeated itself at Thursday's meeting of Tshwane’s municipal council. Mayor Moya recommended that Mettler be investigated and possibly suspended from his position. This recommendation is based on a list of 21 complaints brought against Mettler by the EFF, all of them 'bare' allegations without any factual substantiation. She also knows the real reasons her ANC and EFF seniors want to get rid of Mettler. In the past few months, the city manager has blocked a series of irregular tenders recommended to him by Tshwane's bid adjudication committee. There is every reason to believe that some of these companies are illicit funders of the parties in Tshwane's ANC-led coalition. One of the blocked tenders would have benefited a company called Smada, giving it a 50-year lease on the Pretoria Show Grounds. Smada is the same company that has been linked to tender irregularities in the South African Police in testimony before the Madlanga Commission. In the same testimony, Smada has been linked to the EFF leader Julius Malema. Mettler has also refused to buckle under pressure from the ANC and the EFF to drop disciplinary charges against the so-called Rooiwal Five, officials implicated in rigging a tender for the upgrade of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant in favour of Edwin Sodi and associates. One of the officials is the head of Tshwane's supply chain management division. And so, what has happened in Tshwane is a warning to voters in the run-up to the 2026 local government election. Do not trust Mashaba, or let him anywhere near government in Gauteng's metros, or anywhere else for that matter. As for the DA, we will do everything we can to stop Mettler from being suspended on baseless allegations, because whoever is appointed to act in his place is unlikely to offer any significant resistance to the malfeasance of the ANC, EFF and ActionSA.

CilliersB's tweet photo. Imagine the disappointment of folks who voted for Herman Mashaba and ActionSA in the 2021 local government election. In his brash and blustering style, Mashaba promised to bring an end to the venality and corruption of the ANC in Gauteng metros. He professed to be a disruptor and invited the support of voters who were “gatvol of politics”.

But Mashaba and his people have turned out to be the biggest bullshitters of them all. Instead of being a counterforce to the ANC and its network of deployed cadres and tenderpreneurs in the metros, ActionSA has become its stooges, enablers, and collaborators.

In October 2024, Mashaba struck a deal with the ANC and the EFF in Tshwane, bringing the city's DA-led coalition to a fall. In terms of the deal, the ANC and the EFF would dominate the mayoral committee, but ActionSA's Nasiphi Moya would serve as mayor.

Although Mashaba was fairly shameless about his political manoeuvring in Tshwane, he had to devise a story explaining why people had to bother voting for ActionSA if they could simply vote for the ANC. Moya was going to be a bulwark against the abuse of her new coalition partners, so ActionSA implied. She was going to make Tshwane different from other municipalities misgoverned by these parties. So much for the story.

This week Moya turned on the one senior official in Tshwane who could’ve helped her to dismantle the systemic corruption in the municipal administration of the nation’s capital. City manager Johann Mettler has a sterling reputation for good governance and standing up to corruption, that’s why he lost his job under the “Coalition of Corruption” in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2017/18 (he eventually secured a settlement in his favour).

History repeated itself at Thursday's meeting of Tshwane’s municipal council. Mayor Moya recommended that Mettler be investigated and possibly suspended from his position. This recommendation is based on a list of 21 complaints brought against Mettler by the EFF, all of them 'bare' allegations without any factual substantiation.

She also knows the real reasons her ANC and EFF seniors want to get rid of Mettler. In the past few months, the city manager has blocked a series of irregular tenders recommended to him by Tshwane's bid adjudication committee. There is every reason to believe that some of these companies are illicit funders of the parties in Tshwane's ANC-led coalition.

One of the blocked tenders would have benefited a company called Smada, giving it a 50-year lease on the Pretoria Show Grounds. Smada is the same company that has been linked to tender irregularities in the South African Police in testimony before the Madlanga Commission. In the same testimony, Smada has been linked to the EFF leader Julius Malema.

Mettler has also refused to buckle under pressure from the ANC and the EFF to drop disciplinary charges against the so-called Rooiwal Five, officials implicated in rigging a tender for the upgrade of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant in favour of Edwin Sodi and associates. One of the officials is the head of Tshwane's supply chain management division.

And so, what has happened in Tshwane is a warning to voters in the run-up to the 2026 local government election. Do not trust Mashaba, or let him anywhere near government in Gauteng's metros, or anywhere else for that matter. As for the DA, we will do everything we can to stop Mettler from being suspended on baseless allegations, because whoever is appointed to act in his place is unlikely to offer any significant resistance to the malfeasance of the ANC, EFF and ActionSA.

49

251

106

6

40K

DerekT

@derektward1

Who to follow

Last Seen Users on Sotwe

Trends for you

Most Popular Users