City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says there is insufficient evidence at this stage to justify the removal of councillors, JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg, from the Mayoral Committee following a meeting with police on Wednesday.
Smith is the Mayco member for Safety and Security as well as the deputy Federal Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance’s national structure.
Hill-Lewis requested a briefing from SAPS following the execution of a search warrant at the offices of the Mayco members on Friday.
He says SAPS could not provide any indication of whether substantive evidence of wrongdoing existed.
Police say they are conducting probes into alleged housing tender fraud in the construction sector in the Cape Town municipality.
“I requested a briefing from SAPS following the execution of a search warrant at the offices of two Mayoral Committee members on 24 January. I met with SAPS who were unable to provide any indication of any substantive evidence of wrongdoing exists. SAPS confirmed to me that the execution of a search warrant is in no way indicative of a crime, and I have not been provided with any substantive evidence of alleged wrongdoing by either of the Mayco members in question. In the circumstances, and unless such substantive evidence is forthcoming, there is no basis to suspend either of them from the Mayoral Committee. Full co-operation is being provided by the Mayco members to aid SAPS in their inquiry.”
Hill-Lewis says there are crucial differences between this and the Malusi Booi tender fraud case as SAPS was able to provide substantive evidence of alleged corruption.
Booi, the former Mayco Member for Human Settlements, currently faces fraud charges relating to tenders worth over a billion rand linked to an alleged underworld gang boss, Ralph Stanfield.
