EMALAHLENI – Sports and Recreation MEC in Mpumalanga, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, is at the centre of a scandal after scandal.
Ntshalintshali, who is former mayor of eMalahleni municipality and ANC acting provincial secretary, is in hot water over audio recording and is embroiled in a scandal of Traffic Officers’ training programme that unduly benefitted her son and nephew. The latest is the audio recording which was aired by SABC on Saturday where she was allegedly recorded discussing an alleged corrupt deal with a private individual, and also conspiring to fire her chief of staff for not doing her work.
A transcript of the recording reads: “Mabuza is not right and that girl, but I will deal with them. But you will focus. You keep quiet. The only person who knows about the process is me and Joe. Nobody else. So he will talk to you. And then you will liaise because he said, ‘Please bring somebody that you will trust with your life.’ Whatever that we worked on when we…for dividends.
“You know that your things…This is how we we’ll get there. So I did not want to get any person because others start fighting. Because the comrades knock each other.”
The transcript continues: “What I’m going to do by the end of this week…I’ll ask him and his private secretary. I’ll write their resignation letters by this time, thank you very much. I will explain that I’ve spoken to you, I’ve warned you here and here. I’m not being assisted. We go to functions and I’m saying, how do you feel at a meeting when you don’t know what you’ll be discussing? You haven’t brought any notes.
“My private secretary should be wherever I am…Sometimes you’d need help with other things and she’s not there. I’ve spoken to her four or five times. There are rumours that her and Mabuza are sleeping and waking up in one place. So, I want to get rid of them both. The HOD will send things for my signature…”
Ntshalintshali neither confirmed nor denied that it was her speaking on the audio recording. However, she had questioned the authenticity of the tape saying it needs to be tested and verified if it is indeed her voice.
On the Traffic Officers’ training programme scandal, Ntshalintshali said there was nothing wrong with her son being part of a Traffic Officers’ course at eMalahleni municipality which is accused of nepotism.
“My son has a right to apply for any position as long as he meets the requirements for that position. I can’t stop him from applying for any position he is interested in,” Ntshalintshali told the Highveld Chronicle on Sunday.
In the past week the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), which is in alliance with the ruling ANC, leaked to the media a list of high ranking ANC officials whose family members and relatives have unduly benefited from a Traffic Officers’ training programme. The organisation alleges that the opportunity was never advertised to the public.
Ntshalintshali and other ANC members were fingered to have played a role in placing their family members and relatives on the list. Ntshalintshali’s son, Mbuli Sthembiso and nephew Sizwe Mabona allegedly appear on the list as candidates and have completed the course.
SANCO has also accused the eMalahleni municipality of nepotism and corruption saying it has become a family institution whereby individuals are employed based on who they know and not what they know. Ntshalintshali further said she has no knowledge of how she is implicated. “I don’t know how I have had any influence for my son to be on the list because I was not the mayor nor the MEC at the time,” she said.
She said that she was being a victim of a political conspiracy. “It’s just some forces trying to discredit me because the conference is around the corner,” she said.
