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ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe is right to say that Hessequa Mayor Christopher Taute’s use of a council letterhead to solicit donations from local businesspeople was an “error of judgment”. This was after the ANC in the Western Cape initially denied that Mayor Taute had done anything wrong, and claimed the DA had doctored the letter (despite Mayor Taute freely admitting he had written it himself).

Even Mr. Mantashe, however, has still only acknowledged half of the problem. Mayor Taute’s use of an official letterhead is one of two reasons that his behaviour constituted a serious ethical and legal offence. Indeed, it is arguably a less egregious breach of his responsibilities as a public office bearer than the other: which is that he attempted to extort funds from local businesses, on the basis that they owed their tenders to his ANC administration.

That Mayor Taute stated that businesspeople should donate to the ANC because their contracts were “made possible by this ANC-run council”, and because doing so would allow them to “continue building on your good relations with this ANC-run council” is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to create a corrupt relationship between these companies and the ANC. He is saying: “if you want to maintain your municipal tenders, you’ll need to donate to our campaign”. That is unethical and illegal.

It is for this reason that we have laid a criminal complaint at Cape Town Central Police Station. We believe that Mayor Taute has potentially breached the Code of Conduct for Councillors (contained in schedule 1 of the Municipal Systems Act), the Municipal Finance Management Act, and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. And it is also for this reason that we have asked for the Public Protector to investigate the matter.

I have heard back from the Public Protector’s office this morning, and have been informed that further information on how the matter will be taken forward will be released in the course of the next seven days.

Gwede Mantashe and the ANC need to go further than simply lamenting Mayor Taute’s behaviour. They need to state unequivocally what actions are being taken against the mayor, and what steps will be taken to prevent this conduct in the future. Mr. Matashe’s party constantly speaks of corruption as one of the greatest threats to our democracy. It is. However, when it comes time for action, the ANC issues mild reprimands and then never takes action.

The fact that the Cooperative Governance department has now taken this matter up is a development that we welcome. Minister Shiceka was quoted in this morning’s press saying that a team of investigators from the department will be sent to probe the allegations. However, even while the cabinet is taking the appropriate first steps into investigating this matter, Mr. Mantashe’s statement indicates that the ANC are essentially shrugging their shoulders.

What we have here is an illustration of precisely why a culture of corruption has been allowed to become pervasive within administrations that the ANC governs. The party simply does not care about investigating these matters, and holding its office bearers to account.