Oupa Molotsane, secretary of the ANC Futhela Ledula branch, said they believe Khawe may have used his influence to ensure his fiancée won the tender.
“While we believe in the principle of innocent until proven otherwise, and further believe that comrade Khawe, like all members of the ANC, needs to be granted an opportunity to explain his side of the story, we also believe in fairness. We believe all leaders of the ANC should be treated with the same scrutiny and judged using the same standard,” Molotsane said.
Molotsane said they were making this call because [presidency spokesperson] Khusela Diko and [Gauteng health MEC] Bandile Masuku were suspended by the PEC [provincial executive committee] based on media reports.
“The ANC cannot be run like Animal Farm. If Diko and Masuku could be suspended before providing their version of events in front of an impartial body, we expect Comrade Khawe to take a leaf out of his own book and do the right thing: step aside immediately,” Molotsane said.
Khawe said he felt he was being wrongly targeted as he did not have anything to do with the tender or the company.
He said the municipality should simply cancel the tender if it has found anything untoward about it.
Calls for ANC Gauteng secretary to step aside after fiancée wins big municipal contract
Jacob Khawe says the claims of corruption are part of a 'factional agenda with the intention to discredit me'
Two ANC structures in Sedibeng, Gauteng, are calling for provincial secretary Jacob Khawe to step down following reports that a company linked to his fiancée was awarded a lucrative contract by the embattled Emfuleni municipality.
Khawe is a former mayor of Emfuleni municipality.
This comes after Sunday Times Daily reported that Opulentia, a company of which Nthabiseng Khabutlane was a director, was awarded a contract to provide insurance brokering services for the municipality.
The contract was flagged as irregular after the municipality failed to follow proper tender processes.
The ANC Futhela Ledula branch and the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) in Sedibeng have called on the party’s provincial executive committee to ask Khawe to step aside from all his official duties.
Oupa Molotsane, secretary of the ANC Futhela Ledula branch, said they believe Khawe may have used his influence to ensure his fiancée won the tender.
“While we believe in the principle of innocent until proven otherwise, and further believe that comrade Khawe, like all members of the ANC, needs to be granted an opportunity to explain his side of the story, we also believe in fairness. We believe all leaders of the ANC should be treated with the same scrutiny and judged using the same standard,” Molotsane said.
Molotsane said they were making this call because [presidency spokesperson] Khusela Diko and [Gauteng health MEC] Bandile Masuku were suspended by the PEC [provincial executive committee] based on media reports.
“The ANC cannot be run like Animal Farm. If Diko and Masuku could be suspended before providing their version of events in front of an impartial body, we expect Comrade Khawe to take a leaf out of his own book and do the right thing: step aside immediately,” Molotsane said.
Khawe said he felt he was being wrongly targeted as he did not have anything to do with the tender or the company.
He said the municipality should simply cancel the tender if it has found anything untoward about it.
MKMVA Sedibeng regional secretary J Mpondo said Khawe should be referred to the national integrity commission “to proactively prove this matter and ensure a fair and balanced verdict”.
“For a provincial secretary to be implicated in corruption of this scale in a municipality which is riddled with service delivery issues is a matter of grave concern,” Mpondo said.
He said they expected the integrity commission to commence its work without delay.
Khawe told TimesLIVE that he did not understand why the two ANC structures were talking about corruption when the reports made no mention of such.
“I wonder why are they saying there is corruption ... I think it is a continuation of the factional agenda with the intention to discredit me. I have nothing to do with the said allegations,” Khawe said.
“Emfuleni needs to explain how the company was appointed [and] when was she appointed.”
TimesLIVE