The DA’s former mayor of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse has upped the ante after opening a criminal case over R27 million that was allegedly paid to an unnamed company linked to the ANC.
Phalatse has accused Joburg Property Company (JPC) of paying R27m to a “front company” associated with the ANC to the party to destabilise the DA-led multi-party government in Johannesburg.
“We were reliably informed that part of this R27-million would be used to destabilise the coalition government, of which I was the executive mayor, by funding the payment of bribes to councillors in order to entice them to vote against our government,” said Phalatse.
Phalatse was voted out as the mayor of the city of Joburg through a motion of no confidence last month.
She has been fighting her removal ever since her dramatic fall as mayor, even heading to court to have the council that voted her out declared unlawful.
Speaking outside the Hillbrow police station after the case, she said she was informed by a former member of the mayoral committee about the said transaction.
“It is alleged the JPC paid R27 million to a company that had only been registered for two months at the time of receiving the payment in September this year.”
She said the transaction was disguised as a lease agreement but the money ended up in the bank account of a company linked with the ANC.
Initially, the agreement was estimated to be R2.2 million, but this amount later rose to more than R20 million, according to Phalatse.
“The basis of this multimillion-rand transaction relates to a lease agreement that was contracted between the JPC and a company, to lease Proton House,” said Phalatse.
In a separate court matter, Phalatse opened a case against two ANC councillors for attempted bribery and corruption.
The councillors are accused of offering R2 million to an ActionSA councillor.
The ANC in Johannesburg could not be reached for comment.
Pictured above: Former DA Joburg mayor after opening a case on Wednesday
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