Putting a former Travelgate MP on the ANC’s proportional representation list for the Ugu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal shows the party is corrupt, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
”The fact that former ANC MP Ruth Ntshulana-Bhengu occupies the number one position on the ANC’s proportional representation list … proves that the ruling party actively condones corruption and holds local government voters in contempt.
”If the ANC [African National Congress] is serious about its purported commitment to fighting corruption, it should remove Ntshulana-Bhengu’s name from the list with immediate effect,” said Democratic Alliance election spokesperson Douglas Gibson.
Ntshulana-Bhengu resigned from Parliament following her conviction in the Travelgate scandal.
”She is a convicted criminal who stole thousands of rands of taxpayers’ money to fund her own lavish lifestyle,” Gibson said in a statement.
He said should Ntshulana-Bhengu be elected she would again be in charge of spending taxpayers’ money.
”Through her previous conduct, she has shown herself to be wholly unsuitable for such a responsibility.”
Ntshulana-Bhengu’s placement showed the ANC’s anti-corruption election message had already been completely compromised.
”And its election oath, which states that each ANC candidate commits him-or herself to fighting ‘against corruption in any guise or form’, is not worth the paper it is written on,” said Gibson.
ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Senzo Mchunu was terse about the matter.
He was quoted on the Witness website as saying: ”We have no complaint about Comrade Ntshulana-Bhengu. The party has not broken any law to put her on the list. Anyone who is concerned about this should talk to us.
”All we can say is that all those who believe they have not sinned, we shall allow them to throw stones at Ntshulana-Bhengu.” – Sapa