Johannesburg - The mayor of Joburg, Mpho Phalatse, has been accused of being on “honeymoon” while floods, storms, and other pressing matters are negatively affecting the city.
Al Jama-ah leader Thapelo Amad said it was unfortunate that Phalatse had not visited the families of more than 15 people who perished in the Jukskei River over the weekend while performing a spiritual ceremony.
Johannesburg Emergency Services (EMS) had managed to recover some of the bodies, with more expected to be found over the next few days. City Power had also received a large number of call logs complaining about power outages and transformers affected by recent storms.
Phalatse had gotten married over the weekend in a secret wedding in Limpopo. The wedding had caused some controversy within her own party and had raised eyebrows.
“The thunderstorms have caused destruction of infrastructure in some wards around the city. This has caused severe outages, and it will take several days to restore. In the midst of all this, executive mayor Mpho Phalatse has gone awol and has been absent from duty without taking official leave. She has not been providing executive leadership and political oversight to these massive accidents. This constitutes serious dereliction of duty,” Amad said.
Amad complained that Phalatse had used city resources to send media statements concerning her wedding. He said Phalatse’s marriage to an official in the City of Joburg, Brutus Malada, could become problematic.
“Mr Malada is a strategic adviser to one of the MMCs; strategic advisers are part of the private office of the mayor, and their line manager is the chief of staff to the mayor. This constitutes a clear abuse of power by the mayor. It also demonstrates that the mayor is insensitive to the power relations with the city’s employees. Had the mayor and Malada gotten involved in a love relationship before occupying their current positions in the City of Johannesburg, we would not be concerned about power relations,” Amad said.
The Star