Debate on CR17 bank records is dishonest and hypocritical: Mbalula

08 March 2021 - 12:04
By aphiwe deklerk AND Aphiwe Deklerk
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula. File image.
Image: Sunday Times Transport minister Fikile Mbalula. File image.

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula has slammed those questioning the CR17 bank records, saying a debate on them was dishonest and hypocritical.

He said this in a tweet posted on Monday, specifically referencing Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association spokesperson Carl Niehaus and former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa.

I will never participate in the #cr27bankccounts debate because is the most dishonest and hypocritical debate I have ever seen. Crooks and wannabe saints under one roof. Can you imagine @niehaus_carl in that debate and Andile Lungisa,” tweeted Mbalula.

Mbalula, in a series of tweets, further targeted former president Jacob Zuma and his allies.

Mbalula also responded to a post by human settlements, water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu, which featured a picture from 2017 which was taken when Zuma met ANC presidential hopefuls.

Oh what a night! Dinner of the presidential hopefuls in 2017. It was a good meeting and a wonderful time for all. #throwback,” tweeted Sisulu.

But Mbalula replied, slamming Zuma. “Zuma is not a saint. He was a disaster for this country - big one. Try me, I'll tell you why.”

When quizzed about when he realised this, Mbalula said he found out in 2017 when, as the minister of police, he went after former Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza.

In another tweet, Mbalula replied to University of Johannesburg vice-chancellor Tshilidzi Marwala about the amount of singing during ANC conferences compared to China, where they discuss policies.

“This is what we did under Zuma, sing a lot ... Under Cyril we are thinking a lot,” he tweeted.

It is unclear what provoked Mbalula in his latest attacks, but they come as a number Zuma's allies have come out to defend the former president, after his decision to defy a Constitutional Court order to comply with a summons to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture.

TimesLIVE