The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg notes, with grave concern, Executive Mayor Dada Morero’s appointment of former Chief Whip Cllr Sitembiso Zungu, as the new MMC for Group Corporate and Shared Services (GCSS) despite his alleged links to the “Construction Mafia”.
Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Chris Avant-Smith here
In 2021 MMC Zungi was accused of using his position to stall a R135 million school refurbishment project, allegedly demanding a “facilitation fee” in order for the work at Inkululeko Yesizwe Primary School to proceed. A subcontractor reported that they paid in excess of R800 000 in “facilitation fees”.
MMC Zungu has also allegedly been involved in the disruption of the Golden Highway Refurbishment project. MMC Zungu has denied these allegations, claiming in a WhatsApp comment that Lonerock, the company who was awarded the tender, was being “arrogant”.
In longstanding extortion claims dating back to 2019, in his capacity as Chair of the Ward 122 Business Forum, MMC Zungu allegedly demanded payments before allowing a community housing initiative to proceed in Lehae, Lenasia. Also in 2019, MMC Zungu along with his Business Forum affiliates, were sentenced to 2 months in jail by the Gauteng High Court for violating an interdict for them to stop disrupting the building of more than 70 housing units in the Lehae project, due to their demands of “facilitation fees”.
It is unclear as to how much jail time MMC Zungu served but it was allegedly “mere hours”, a Correctional Services Spokesperson said the department has no record of MMC Zungu being held at the facility.
On the 29th of January 2024, MMC Zungu was injured in a shooting incident at a Rand Water Donation event, held at the Zakariyya Park Community Centre. Whilst the shooting itself is not linked to any corruption allegations, there was speculation that the shooting of MMC Zungu could be related to contentious development projects involving pressure by the so-called “Construction and Water Mafia’s” operating in Johannesburg. These “mafias’ have been linked to violent tactics and fuelled the speculation that this was a targeted attack on MMC Zungu.
The Democratic Alliance wrote to both the Executive Mayor and The Speaker of Council suggesting that MMC Zungu temporarily step down from his position as Chief Whip of Council pending an internal investigation as to the veracity of the allegations. However, we received no answer to our letter, and now the Executive Mayor has seen fit to elevate the allegedly corrupt public representative to his Executive. The DA is a party of law and order and we condemn the Mayor’s blatant disregard for the Residents of Johannesburg, who deserve an Executive that is beyond reproach and who will ensure that residents’ needs are fulfilled in a bi-partisan manner and without the taint of corruption