Geordin Hill-Lewis has been under pressure from opposition parties to suspend JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg while the investigation is underway. FILE
MAYOR Geordin Hill-Lewis has given no satisfactory answer as to why he is not acting against senior DA mayoral committee members, JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg who are still sitting with a firm grip on state power despite being the subject of ongoing police investigations into allegations of fraud concerning a case before the court.
Hill-Lewis has been under pressure from opposition parties to suspend Smith and Limberg while the investigation is underway. They were thrust into the spotlight when the Commercial Crimes unit of the provincial police swooped on their offices at the Civic Centre as part of a forensic investigation stemming from a tender fraud case.
The mayor has insisted that there was insufficient evidence at this stage to justify the suspensions.
He made the comments after a meeting with provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, which he requested following the raid.
The meeting raised scrutiny amid fears of interference while the investigation was ongoing.
The provincial police have since said that they did not disclose the merits of their investigation during their meeting with Hill-Lewis, which raised further questions around how Hill-Lewis made the decision not to suspend.
Approached for comment again on the matter this week the City referred the Cape Times to an old statement.
They also ignored questions about whether Hill-Lewis was reluctant to act against Smith because he is his boss in the DA. Smith is the DA’s metro chairperson.
Hill-Lewis’ spokesperson Lyndon Khan maintained that: “No evidence was placed before the mayor to warrant a decision to suspend the mayco members”.
Hill-Lewis' previous statement read: “Should substantive evidence of alleged wrong-doing come to light at any stage, I will assess what action is required to defend and uphold the integrity of our government in the City. Full co-operation is being provided by the Mayco members to aid SAPS in their inquiry.”
Political analyst, Keith Gottschalk said the mayor is in a nightmare position since JP Smith is his DA party superordinate.
“The DA needs to carefully monitor if anything comes of this police investigation in the months ahead. It is always a judgement call to separate the facts from smears.”
Political analyst Tessa Dooms said opposition parties had a responsibility to call for the suspensions.
She said that just as the DA always spoke about the president exercising his prerogative at the national level and not being caught up playing ANC politics, “they need to do the same”.
“The mayor has given no satisfactory answer as to why he is not acting and can't explain why he thinks it is a good idea for the city that people who are being investigated who may very well be found guilty, he doesn’t know that, are still sitting with state power, state resources and are being protected by him.”
The separation of state and party is a very clear thing in South Africa, said Dooms.
“That is the standard, where it has been muddied, is that political parties have no sense of accountability when it comes to their separation”.
Cape Times
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