David Mabuza should be in prison, not the Presidency: Maimane

Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane says that David Mabuza has left Mpumalanga in tatters, with joblessness, corruption, and lack of basic service delivery rife across the province.

On a visit to the community of Rockdale in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, Maimane furthers that with all the allegations against Mabuza, he ought to have been put in jail.

“Here in Rockdale over 200 RDP houses were built, yet the intended legal beneficiaries are left in the lurch as most houses lie bare without any access to basic services. Many are occupants but do not have title deed over the property they live in. For many, what ought to have become their family home has now become a family headache.”

Maimane says that like most projects in African National Congress (ANC) governments, there is some “connected cadre who is profiting off the suffering of poor South Africans”.

“The quality of the infrastructure is substandard, and many of these homes are dilapidated after only months of being erected – and have thus become a target for vandalism and theft. Many occupants are left with no option but to illegally connect to electricity to cook food and provide for their families as electricity has not been connected for many houses.”

Maimaine emphasises that this is the legacy of now Deputy President David Mabuza in this province.

“During his tenure as Mpumalanga Premier, Mabuza used and abused this province – turning it into his own fiefdom of patronage, power and profits. From allegations of political assassinations to muffling journalists and the media – Mabuza is the poster boy for the modern-day ANC. This is a man who maintained his patronage network by bloating the provincial government with loyal cadres.”

Maimane further says that Mabuza links to state capture with former president Jacob Zuma and the Guptas are well known.

“On 26 October 2015, he flew from Johannesburg to Moscow aboard the Gupta owned Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft. He then returned to South Africa on the same aircraft on 14 November 2015. Mabuza claimed that he has accepted a ride with the Guptas to seek medical treatment in Moscow for his alleged August 2015 poisoning.”

Maimane even took a swipe at President Cyril Ramaphosa saying there can be no ‘New Dawn’ with David Mabuza as second in charge.

“In fact, Cyril Ramaphosa threw his own Deputy Presidential candidate, Lindiwe Sisulu, under the bus in order to team up with Mabuza at the ANC’s elective conference in December last year. A marriage of compromise in the pursuit of power.”