Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has referred himself to the Johannesburg City’s Ethics Committee over allegations that he had hired his wife’s company to assist with the in-sourcing of security personnel.
This follows follows a newspaper report claiming that proper processes were not followed, and that the deal represented a conflict of interest.
However Mashaba has denied the claims and says he has done nothing wrong, and no fee was paid for the service.
He says he merely reached out to a security sector expert with the skills on insourcing, adding that he had declared his financial interests, as well as those of his family.
Mashaba says the move to hand himself over is about being accountable.
“I’ve really requested and referred this matter personally to the Ethics committee, so that I’m being investigated and this matter be made public. I believe as public officials we need to subject ourselves to these kinds of investigations so that as public officials we cannot be in a position where we can abuse our position and our influences in society.”
