The African National Congress (ANC)’s national dispute resolution committee (NDRC) has set aside the Gauteng party’s decision for Merafong Mayor Maphefo Letsie and former West Rand District Municipality Mayor Boyce Maneli to leave their positions.
A committee report signed by acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile on 15 February, which Eyewitness News has seen, shows that Gauteng’s provincial executive committee (PEC) is accused of being harsh and possibly severe in its actions against them.
In 2020, the pair were told to resign over their two respective municipalities’ investments into now defunct VBS Mutual Bank.
This was despite not being implicated in the report on the widespread looting at the bank.
Added to this, the ANC’s provincial integrity committee said it couldn’t establish a connection between the two and acts of corruption.
But the PIC did say they should be held responsible for failing to hold officials to account.
A four page document is signed off by Mashatile and in it, is a review of the sanction imposed on both Maneli and Letsie by the ANC in Gauteng two years ago.
The NDRC found the two, who were accused of not doing enough to prevent their municipalities from investing in the VBS Mutual Bank, did seek advice from both the finance MMC and their respective councils after it was placed under curatorship.
In Maneli’s case, he was not even a mayor when his municipality invested in the bank. He was appointed in August 2016 but the deposits started in 2015.
It said at best, the PEC’s actions were harsh and at worst, simply severe.
The dispute committee has recommended that the PEC’s decision be set aside and the two be allowed to continue serving as public officials.
-EWN
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