“Now when the mayor finds himself in hot water suddenly I am the bad person”: Contracts awarded by former Rustenburg municipal manager Nqobile Sithole come back to haunt her as mayor Mpho Khunou faces allegations that he influenced the awarding of some
Khunou said the allegations were “part of a smear campaign” aimed at “tarnishing my image” because there were “branches of the ANC in Rustenburg that held a view that I should become the provincial secretary”.
The municipality has had several contracts frozen or are under review while others were being investigated by the Hawks. However, Sithole said all this was shocking news to her as she was from KwaZulu-Natal and not into politics to be part of “any smear political campaign”.“I was praised when I left the municipality. It is very hard for me to hear all these accusations and have to respond a year after I left Rustenburg,” she said.
“I am the one who advised the municipality for some contracts and the payments to be halted and for them to be investigated … and now when the mayor finds himself in hot water suddenly I am the bad person,” she said.Meanwhile, Khunou has dismissed as “just hearsay” the allegations that he had a romantic relationship with a former director of Electronic Connect, a company that was awarded a contract to “implement turnkey smart city projects and related infrastructure”.
Electronic Connect now appears to be a hot potato that neither Khunou nor Sithole want to handle. Sithole, who signed the contract, has also questioned the payment.Electronic Connect co-director Zamo Mthiyane, confirmed his company got paid in August for work done at the time when the municipality was “illegally utilising [Microsoft ] licenses”.
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