NFP calls for suspension of two KZN MECs

The National Freedom Party (NFP) has called for the suspension of KwaZulu-Natal’s Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka and the Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, following allegations of corruption against them.

There are claims that companies associated with the MECs’ families have improperly benefitted from government contracts intended for disadvantaged businesses.

NFP leader Irvin Barnes has urged Premier Thami Ntuli to launch an investigation into these allegations.

Barnes says, “People will deny any wrongdoing until such accountability investigation is done, so while we are doing that, let us remove them from positions of authority and power, so we can apply principles of good governance and ethical leadership through investigations. So while we do this investigations, the said officials and political officials must be put aside, suspended so this investigation cannot be questionable.”

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Simelane has denied the allegations of corruption.

On the farm matter, she says, “The farm received financing through an Ithala Bank loan in 2008, many years before I became Chairperson of the Provincial Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in June 2016.”

Simelane adds: “In 2008, I was a junior official employed within a completely different department. I had no decision-making influence or impact on loan approvals within Ithala Bank. Additionally, I had resigned from the family company in 2004, four years before that loan was issued.”