It emerged at the high court in Johannesburg on Friday that the DA could have shielded “predatory sex fiend” Shadow Shabangu
The Hawks are probing a senior Democratic Alliance councillor alleged to have taken kickbacks of R1.2-million. The Ekurhuleni councillor, Shadow Shabangu, is also facing a court case after a colleague accused him of sexual harassment.
His subsequent recent re-election by the party — which trumpets an anti-corruption and clean-governance stance — has riled DA members in Gauteng who say that federal chair Helen Zille has been covering for Shabangu, who is the caucus chair in the Ekurhuleni council.
Shabangu was re-elected to this position last month even though criminal charges had been laid against him — charges that are now being investigated by the Hawks.
DA insiders have accused Zille of turning a blind eye to Shabangu’s alleged corruption as her office has allegedly been aware of the scandal since her appointment in October last year.
The Mail & Guardian understands that the federal chairperson’s office was sent evidence of a forensic probe by the Ekurhuleni municipality, but it is unclear whether Zille has seen the correspondence.
In an attempt to see if she had, the M&G sent Zille questions, with ample time to respond. After these attempts went unanswered, DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said that, though he was not on official duty this week, he would get Zille to respond.
Malatsi said he could not track Zille down, who still had not responded at the time of going to print.
The M&G understands that the DA was asked to investigate the claims, but the party did not do so. A whistleblower then went to the council with the kickback allegations.
The M&G has seen a detailed forensic report commissioned for the Ekurhuleni municipality after this, which found that Shabangu allegedly accepted a kickback of R1 220 000 for services he was not qualified for and should have done for free as an elected representative.
According to the report, a few weeks after the 2016 local government elections and just over a year after the commencement of the construction of Springs Mall, Shabangu signed a consultancy deal with Blue Crane Eco Mall. The mall was opened in March 2017.
The report concluded that Shabangu had abused his position as a councillor to attain a “consultancy fee” for an assignment for which he was not qualified.
It held that Shabangu’s contract and receipt of the payments put him in a conflicted position and was in contravention of section 4 of the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act in that he accepted payment in return for representing Blue Crane’s interests in his ward.
The council document, coming out of the report, notes: “In particular, the committee notes that Shabangu was conflicted in his dealings with the developers of the mall in that:
• He signed a contract with them to the value of R1 220 000 for the offer of services that he would otherwise have offered free of charge by being a councillor of the area;
• The contract required him to protect the interest of the developer instead of those of the municipality and those of his constituents, which is a direct conflict of interests; and
• He received the amount of R1 220 000 in total at various stages of the contract.”
The investigation also found that Shabangu does not have any requisite qualifications, expertise or experience that would have qualified him to undertake consultancy work in planning and surveying.
DA insiders have claimed that Shabangu received protection because the party benefited from the money he received.
He was re-elected as caucus chairperson despite these findings.
The M&G sent detailed questions to Shabangu on Monday, which he did not answer.
On Wednesday he said: “I don’t know anything about that report. I know that it was discussed in council, but I don’t know anything about the report.”
Paul Gerard, from Flanagan & Gerard Property Development Investments, who spoke on behalf of the mall, didn’t reply to M&G questions but instead wrote out his own questions and responded to those.
When pressed to answer our questions, he didn’t reply, but he did say: “From our understanding, this matter has been through an investigation, and the councillor has been cleared of any wrongdoing. The councillor was contracted as a community liaison officer.”
Gerard added: “The councillor was paid for all of the duties that he performed in the mall, which are detailed in the contract with the councillor.”
Ekurhuleni speaker Patricia Kumalo said she had opened a case, as mandated by the council, against Shabangu. She told the M&G the Hawks’ investigators had not updated her or the council on the progress. Kumalo said the charges were opened because of “overwhelming evidence against Shabangu”.
“The report was overwhelming; people read it, and the councillors felt that there were matters that needed further investigations. But, because of our limited resources, we could not reach out to those matters that were of grave concern,” Kumalo said.
But Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale blamed Ekurhuleni for the delays in the investigation, saying Kumalo was withholding information. “The investigation [into Shabangu] is ongoing, but the complainant [Kumalo] is stalling with the information. I can’t tell you which information is outstanding,” Mogale said.
But Kumalo said this week that she was “disappointed” in the Hawks for the delays, saying the council wanted to wrap the matter up before their five-year term ends next year.
Amid the kickback allegations, Shabangu is also facing an egregious sexual harassment allegation from his fellow Ekurhuleni DA councillor, Thina Bambeni, who has taken the party to court for allegedly covering up the abuse. This is after an internal DA process cleared Shabangu.
Bambeni told the M&G that she was proceeding with her case to get justice against Shabangu, who allegedly made unwarranted and lewd sexual passes at her while he was her senior.
Last month, the high court in Johannesburg ordered the DA to provide Bambeni with all the records and transcripts of the proceedings, which led to the dismissal of her sexual harassment complaint against Shabangu. The DA’s proceedings sat between August and November in 2018 and in March last year.
Bambeni also accused Zille of overlooking the abuse against her and claimed the party had a culture of abuse.
She said of Shabangu: “He then flexes his power on female colleagues by sexually harassing us because he knows the DA won’t stop him from doing it, but will instead target his victims. So, from where I’m sitting, I do not have any doubts about which side Helen Zille sides in issues of GBV [gender-based violence] and sexual abuse — she stands firmly with the side of the male perpetrators,” Bambeni said.
Shabangu said he could not comment on the harassment allegations because they were before the court.
“Bambeni took that matter to court. Maybe that is why I didn’t answer your [written questions] because, if I were to answer and it gets to court, then it could be detrimental to me. We’re waiting for the court to decide on this matter. All her allegations were not proven [in the DA’s internal hearings]. So, it is now up to the court to decide,” Shabangu said.
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