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Ekurhuleni City Manager, Kagiso Lerutla.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the precautionary suspension of Ekurhuleni City Manager, Kagiso Lerutla.
This as Lerutla, who has been on special leave since April, is set to resume his duties on Monday.
He, alongside suspended EMPD Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi, faces charges of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
The charges stem from a 2019 incident, where Lerutla allegedly failed to attend a court appearance for a speeding offence, and instead arranged for someone to impersonate him.
The State alleges that Lerutla paid Mkhwanazi and the impersonator R200 000 each to carry out the plan.
DA MP Michael Bagraim has denounced Lerutla’s return.
“The suspension process is not all that complicated. You collect evidence, you collect what looks like a prima facie case and so what you would then do is confront the person with the allegations and then they’ll say well I’m not guilty or whatever they’re going to say. And you say listen, I’ve weighed up what you have to say, I’ve weighed up what the allegations are. And we’ve decided because it’s too risky to bring you back into this position because you’ve got access to a whole lot of funds, we’ve decided to actually suspend you.”
