Cape Town – Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader in Johannesburg, Mpho Phalatse has accused the newly elected executive mayor Kabelo Gwamanda of being part of a Ponzi scheme in which residents were scammed.
Gwamanda, an Al Jama-ah councillor, was elected on Friday.
He replaced his party counterpart Thapelo Amad who resigned on April 24, a day before he was due to face a no-confidence vote in council.
Gwamanda was voted into power with a whopping 139 votes, while Phalatse and ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni received 68 and 59 votes respectively.
He received the backing of the ANC, EFF and minority parties for him to win the position.
In a statement, Phalatse said there was information circulating on social media that alleged that “through his entity iThemba Lama Afrika, [Gwamanda] scammed innocent residents into investing in a funeral/investment scheme. However, the investors were left hanging dry when it was time to claim their benefits”.
Read the full statement below
The DA’s Mpho Phalatse says new Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is a swindler and cannot be trusted.#KayaNews #KabeloGwamanda NPM pic.twitter.com/wEPyYn1Qei
— Kaya 959 News (@KayaNews) May 6, 2023
“…It is for these reasons that the Democratic Alliance in Johannesburg will be bringing these allegations to the attention of the SAPS for further investigation along with a victim of this scheme.
“The DA believes that the Mayor deserves an opportunity to clear his name if he is to be trusted by the public.”
In response, however, Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks accused Phalatse of sour grapes for losing the mayoral election to Gwamanda, EWN reported on Sunday.
According to the report, Hendricks said prior to Gwamanda being chosen as the mayoral candidate for the ANC-EFF-led coalition, he passed a vetting process by the country’s ruling party.
“I was given the assurance by the SG [Secretary General] of the ANC and they did due diligence on him, now I don’t know whether they used national intelligence on him,” the report quoted Hendricks as saying.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
