Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros has accused Cape Town mayor Helen Zille of ‘not telling the truth†when she claimed that the Cape Town city council employed private investigators because the police had failed to probe controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.
Said Petros in an interview: ‘I called a press conference and played recorded evidence to show that the council employed the private investigating firm, George Fivaz and Associates (GFA), two months before a charge was laid with us.â€
Petros said a private investigator, Phillip Du Toit, not the city, had laid the charge. ‘We told him that there’s not sufficient evidence. The council speaker was supposed to bring more evidence on September 2, but never did.â€
Zille did not deny that GFA was hired months before a complaint was laid with police, but angrily branded Petros’s statement a red herring.
‘The scandal is not when we employed GFA and the nature of the contract the city had with it. The scandal is: why don’t the police investigate Chaaban, a man who bribes and threatens people?
‘Petros is being used by the ANC. In a country with a functioning criminal justice system a person like Chaaban could never become a councillor,†Zille said.
The row surrounding the council’s employment of private investigators to probe Chabaan’s activities during the floor-cossing period refused go away this week. He is about to be expelled, after being found guilty by a council disciplinary committee this week of various offences.
One of Zille’s headaches is the resentment of her multiparty coalition partners that they were not told of the Chabaan probe.
An Independent Democrats councillor, who asked not to be named, accused Zille of ‘panicking†over Chabaan’s campaign to unseat her ruling coalition, with ANC help.
‘The DA and Zille were shitting themselves because they believed Chaaban had the money to lure councillors away. That’s why they paid private eyes to spy and gave them too broad a mandate.â€
The ID source said the uproar was the latest spin-off of the ANC-DA tug of war in Cape Town, which was ‘ripping the city apartâ€.
There are now five investigations into the spying saga. This week Zille asked heavyweight advocate Geoff Budlender to head an inquiry, while the DA spent R200 000 in advertisements in local newspapers explaining Zille’s role in the appointment of private investigators.
Western Cape housing minister Richard Dyanthi has ordered a probe into the procurement and payment process and has asked the city manager, Agmat Ibrahim, to explain the payments to GFA.
Last week premier Ebrahim Rasool ordered his own investigation into the matter, while the police are conducting a criminal investigation into possible illegal surveillance and contraventions of the Communications Act.
On Tuesday council speaker Dirk Smit ‘refreshed and relaid†criminal charges against Chaaban. Smit is investigating whether GFA was paid before a contract was in place.
This week Zille survived the 10th attempt to unseat her as mayor. The National People’s Party’s (NPP) spokesperson, Juan-Duval Uys, threatened earlier in the week that Zille would be unseated by the NNP and ANC at Wednesday’s council meeting.
Although the ANC has always denied being in bed with the NNP, the 81 ANC councillors ululated and cheered Chaaban when he walked into a council meeting this week screaming that Zille belonged in prison. Security guards removed him.
An unrepentant Chaaban told the Mail & Guardian Zille is a ‘lunatic who should take her medicine and go to jail for spending taxpayer’s money on spying on her political oppositionâ€.