THE DA in KZN is demanding evidence of wrongdoing against their KZN premier candidate for the 2024 election, Christopher Pappas.
These allegations emerged after the DA announced Pappas, who currently serves as the mayor of uMngeni Municipality, as their KZN premier candidate on September 25.
On Wednesday, 27 September, DA KZN's former chairman who is now an ANC member, Sizwe Mchunu, wrote a letter to the office of the public protector asking for a probe of Pappas for spousal nepotism and corruption.
In his letter, Mchunu asked the public protector’s office to investigate the allegations that Pappas’s fiance, Jean-Pierre Prinsloo’s uMngeni tourism organisation was given a R100 000 grant by uMngeni Municipality, while the top 5 tourism organisation operating within uMngeni municipality received R10 000 each per month.
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Mchunu questioned the need for the grant and demanded evidence justifying its necessity.
He also highlighted the fact that Prinsloo's company, Growth Spurt Consultancy (GSC), of which he is the sole owner, was appointed as a consultant to uMngeni Tourism NPO for the Light Up uMngeni Festival.
Daily Sun contacted Pappas for comment and his phone rang unanswered.
Daily Sun then contacted Pappas’s campaign manager, Sakhile Mngadi, who asked for the questions to be sent via WhatsApp.
Questions were sent with no response and when Daily Sun called again, his phone rang unanswered.
The attempts to get Prinsloo to comment on the matter were also unsuccessful.
DA's KZN chairman, Dean Macpherson, challenged Mchunu to provide evidence supporting the claims, suggesting that it's difficult to comment on a complaint based solely on social media articles with no substantiating evidence.
Mchunu confirmed to Daily Sun that he is the one who wrote the letter to the public protector offices and said Pappas is the one who must prove that the allegations are wrong against him.
Macpherson said he is challenging Mchunu to provide any evidence to support the claims.
“I think it’s difficult to comment, surely on a complaint based on social media articles when no evidence exists.
“The timing speaks for itself,” he said.
READ THE LETTER BELOW:
