A case against her has been laid in Mbombela.
Premier Refilwe Tsipane has just admitted in a press statement released to the media on Thursday to being guilty of corruption, the EFF has said
Scores of relatives connected to officials in her office had their children and wives preferred without proper processes.
Tsipane’s office released the press statement before midday Thursday 14 January 2021 and apologised for the Mpumalanga traffic cop learnership scandal.
The EFF said they will take the statement and attach it to their complaint against Tsipane at the Mbombela police station.
Provincial leader Collen Sedibe said they viewed Tsipane’s statement “as an admission of guilt” and will be submitted to the investigating officer as an “additional statement on top of the corruption case against the Premier”.
ALSO SEE: Refilwe Tsipane apologises for traffic cops scandal
Tsipane’s Mpumalanga government had to cancel the traffic cops learnership program when it caused a public outcry with the manner in which the children of officials in the government were appointed.
The process will be reopened to the students to apply.
Tsipane in the statement said after a meeting with safety and security MEC Gabisile Shabalala and other stakeholders in the provincial government she found that clearly the process that selected the pupils were “procedurally and fatally flawed”.
Tsipane said she was “disappointed” when she found that “material requirements” were not met and that “proper due diligence had not been done by the department of safety and security”.
The students were taken from the Traffic College in Bushbuckridge and were supposed to start on 4 January 2021 – some of those selected didn’t even undergo interviews and some didn’t have drivers licenses.
Sedibe said the 2 wives and 6 children of Tsipane’s bodyguards were hired as well as the child of Tsipane’s messenger and a relative of her media officer.
ALSO SEE: Themba Sgudla accuses DD Mabuza of running Mpumalanga departments behind Refilwe Tsipane’s back
Sedibe said the fact that Tsipane chose to handle the outcry around the learnership scandal and not Shabalala whose department is responsible for the recruitment is proof that she had a hand in the hiring of certain students connected to officials in her office.
“This act of nepotism and corruption should be exposed everywhere it raises its ugly head because it deprives the poor people of Mpumalanga of their future.
“The EFF welcomes the nullification of the irregular appointment of the 125 traffic officers for the 2021 learnership intake after a 10-day battle and we will monitor the processes of learnership and general workers very closely going forward”.
(edited by ZK)
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