uMngeni Mayor Christopher Pappas has been accused of nepotism following allegations that his former fiancé, Jean-Pierre Prinsloo, allegedly benefitted from a municipal contract.
- uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas has denied allegations that he influenced the awarding of funds from the municipality for the benefit of his former partner.
- The ANC has applied political pressure on him, threatening a march to his offices.
- Now ActionSA has demanded a probe.
The tourism scandal that uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas has found himself in clearly isn’t going away.
ActionSA is the latest to enter the fray with its request for the speaker, Janis Holmes, to investigate a R100 000 payment to the uMngeni Tourism board, headed by Pappas’ former fiancé, Jean-Pierre Prinsloo.
ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Zwakele Mncwango, wants to know whether Pappas breached municipal legislation by not declaring that there was a conflict of interest.
It emerged recently that the board has links to Prinsloo.
The board receives payments of R10 000 from the municipality.
A R100 000 payment was paid to the organisation as additional funding.
WATCH | Chris Pappas is ANC’s worst nightmare, says Steenhuisen of embattled uMngeni mayor
Mncwango insists that Holmes should seek answers to help resolve the political cloud over Pappas’ head.
“The mayor had a direct conflict of interest in this matter and should not have only declared his relationship with Prinsloo but should have declared the interest and recused himself from deliberations pertaining to the NPO,” the ActionSA leader said.
The party also wants the speaker to probe any travel payments the municipality made while Pappas and Prinsloo were still involved in a relationship.
“In understanding the position of conflict of interest Mayor Pappas found himself in, councillors are, by law, required to recuse themselves from council, especially when matters are to be voted upon, which is highlighted under Schedule 7 of the code of disclosure of interest that a councillor must disclose to the municipal council, or to any committee of which that councillor is a member, any direct or indirect personal or private business interest that that councillor, or any spouse, partner or business association of that councillor may have in any matter before the council or the committee; and b. Withdraw from the proceedings of the council or committee when that matter is considered or indirect interest in the matter is trivial or irrelevant,” Mncwango said.
READ | ‘We do not know of the court order’: KZN ANCYL pushes ahead with uMngeni shutdown despite interdict
ActionSA is not the only party that wants Pappas politically shamed. The ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal plans to march in uMngeni this week.
This is despite a court order the municipality obtained to stop the march.
The DA continued to defend Pappas, denying the allegations of misconduct levelled against him. The mayor himself also denied that there was any conflict.
DA leader John Steenhuisen labelled the outrage as manufactured by the ANC because he stood a good chance in his ambitions to be elected premier of KZN in the 2024 elections. The DA announced Pappas as its premier candidate in the province last week.
