There will be no cover-up in the alleged spy scandal involving the surveillance of Cape Town councillors, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille vowed on Friday.
”Let me be clear. There will be no cover-up in this matter. If anyone in the city or the DA has broken any law, the police must lay a charge and we will deal with it head-on,” she said in her party’s weekly online newsletter, SA Today.
However, until concrete evidence of wrongdoing emerged, ”I must assume that this is another smear campaign orchestrated by elements in the police to advance an African National Congress [ANC] agenda”, Zille said.
Earlier this week, Zille — who is also mayor of Cape Town — appointed a senior city advocate, Geoff Budlender, to head an inquiry into the so-called ”spy” affair, specifically into payments made to an investigator.
In her letter, Zille said the ”broader political context” of the alleged scandal had been missed in much of the media coverage of the issue.
”What seems to have escaped serious and focused attention is that this is in fact the tenth attempt by the ANC to topple the DA-led administration in the city,” she said.
Legitimate
Last month, Zille said that a city-commissioned probe into the activities of controversial councillor Badhi Chaaban was completely legitimate.
She was reacting to an Independent Newspapers report that the Democratic Alliance-led council was ”at the centre of a potential spy scandal”.
The report suggested irregularities in the city’s payment of over R80 000 to private investigators George Fivaz and Associates for a probe into suspected bribery by Chaaban ahead of the recent floor-crossing window.
Zille said the ”convoluted” report appeared to claim that ratepayers had paid for a DA investigation into Chaaban.
”Of course any allegation of this kind is devoid of truth. The investigation into councillor Chaaban was legitimately carried out by the City of Cape Town,” she said.
She said the investigation was ordered by council speaker Dirk Smit following complaints from various councillors that Chaaban had threatened them.
Smit had had a legal obligation to probe these allegations, she said. — Sapa