IN just a week, Cope councillor Dr Murunwa Makwarela has been hired, fired, reinstated and has lastly resigned as the City of Tshwane mayor.
Makwarela’s short tenure as the mayor of the capital city, which started on 28 February, has been marred by one drama after another.
He was disqualified as a councillor and mayor on Tuesday, 7 March after it was revealed he was declared insolvent in 2016.
On Thursday, 9 March he was reinstated after he apparently handed over a notice of solvency rehabilitation to the municipal spokesman, Selby Bokaba.
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Bokaba said city manager Johann Mettler informed the Gauteng provincial electoral officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to immediately withdraw the declaration of a vacancy for the Cope councillor.
But on Friday, 10 March the North Gauteng High Court said Makwarela’s rehabilitation certificate was fake. It had referred the matter to the Hawks for criminal investigation.
The DA has also questioned the timeline and the validity of the rehabilitation certificate.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said Makwarela, in his own declaration of the 2021 local elections submission from Cope to the IEC, said he was not solvent.
“How did you then declare that you are not solvent in 2021, yet in 2018 you have a court order that says you are then solvent? So, things don’t add up here,” said Msimanga.
Cope's national spokesman Dennis Bloem told Daily Sun the party’s executive members were going to have a meeting with Makwarela, after which they'd release a statement.
Meanwhile, the multi-party coalition in Tshwane has resorted to take legal against him.
Joint Caucus chair Jacqui Uys said they would lay criminal charges at the Brooklyn cop shop.
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He said these charges relate to allegations that Makwarela knowingly supplied falsified and fraudulent documentation to the city.
“Residents have been dismayed and left in disbelief by the shameless and dishonest politicking that has seen the governance of the city destabilised and the ability of residents to receive service delivery disrupted.”
“Dr Makwarela’s integrity and questionable legitimacy as a duly elected city councillor have been at the nexus of these unfortunate events. Matters have now escalated to a point where criminal procedures against Dr Makwarela are necessary in defence of the integrity of the Tshwane City Council,” he said.
