Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
A senior member of the Zulu royal family and KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Welfare, Prince Gideon Zulu, has been accused of using a truck belonging to a centre for the handicapped for his personal business.
Employees at the Osizweni Handicraft Centre in Newcastle claim Zulu has been ordering his provincial staff to take the centre’s truck to transport, among other things, his cattle.
An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said the white Mitsubishi was taken by Zulu’s officials two weeks ago to deliver his cattle to Mangozi in the far north of KwaZulu-Natal.
The Osizweni Centre uses the truck to deliver handicrafts around the province to be sold at flea-markets and informal shops. The centre is a project of the provincial welfare department. Employees say Zulu uses the truck’s driver as well when he takes the vehicle from them.
The manager of the centre, a Mr Mazibuko, confirmed that Zulu’s department often uses the truck on the understanding that it is being used for official purposes.
“I don’t know what happens to the truck after they have taken it. They may request it to transport office furniture from one office to another, but I don’t know what happens after that,” he said, adding that he was going to check his records and explain where the truck went when it was last taken by Zulu’s officials two Thursdays ago.
However, Mazibuko then refused to speak to the Mail & Guardian, referring all queries to Mike Gumede, Zulu’s representative. Gumede confirmed his department often uses the truck, but denied the welfare MEC has used it for his personal purposes.
“There is no such thing. The MEC does not have a farm or farms,” he said.
Asked whether Zulu owned cattle, Gumede said: “Yes he does have cattle. But the cattle are kept at his house. He does not have anything like a farm. He keeps the cattle at his home as part of our history.
“There are no facts about this. What we know is that we requested the truck during the floods to transport people and their goods. When we first heard about this story we were very shocked. If ever the truck has been requested to transport cattle it was often when there was an occasion and community members asked that cows be slaughtered,” he said.