Johannesburg - The ANC in Pretoria says it is shocked after it was confirmed that Tshwane mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela of Cope submitted a fraudulent court order, purportedly proving he was a rehabilitated insolvent.
The disgraced Makwarela resigned on Friday after the chief registrar of the North Gauteng High Court confirmed it had never issued a rehabilitation order.
Insolvent persons are not allowed to stand for public office.
The registrar of the high court has referred the matter to the Hawks for further investigation.
Speaking to Talk Radio 702 on Friday, the ANC’S Tshwane regional secretary George Matjila, said Makwarela had thrown them under the bus after he presented a fraudulent certificate to them this week and although they had their doubt, they gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Matjila said ANC members who had seen the letter raised issue with the letter referring to a “North Court” whereas they only knew of the North Gauteng High Court and the South Gauteng High Court.
“We are shocked that a person of his calibre, who has been the Speaker for over a year can do this kind of thing. We now have to ask ourselves how many documents which went through him have been faked.
“We are very concerned as the ANC,” he said.
Matjila said when reports of Makwarela’s insolvency first emerged, they met with him and he assured them that there was nothing to worry about.
“What we did as the ANC upon the receipt that he may have been insolvent, we convened him and he assured us everything is above board and he has gone through the process of rehabilitation.
“He showed us the document and we believed him because we are not experts.
“My colleagues were concerned about the document because it was saying North Court, we only know the North Gauteng and South Gauteng High Court, so we got very much worried when we saw something like that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matjila said they only realised on Friday when Makwarela resigned that he had thrown them “under the bus”.
Matjila said they were still planning on backing a mayoral candidate from a smaller party, despite the Makwarela saga.
“We are not interested in the mayoral chain, we will find each other with our coalition partners.
“We are prepared to give the smaller parties a chance so that they can prove themselves and also to show the public that the ANC is not all about power,” said Matjila.
HISTORY
Makwarela was previously Tshwane Speaker when Cope was part of the DA-led multiparty coalition.
They switched camps and joined the ANC-EFF coalition, which backed Makwarela to take over as mayor on March 1, where he was duly elected.
On March 7, he was removed from office and as a councillor, after it was found he was insolvent.
On March 9, having submitted the fraudulent order to the city manager, he was reinstated as mayor.
A day later, he resigned as it was confirmed his letter was fraudulent.
The Hawks are now investigating him for alleged fraud.
IOL