Meeting of SANCO NEC delayed amid corruption claims

A meeting of the South African National Civic Organisation’s (Sanco) national executive committee has been delayed, amid claims of corruption involving its outgoing general secretary, Terence Mpanza, and president, Richard Mdakane, who are accused of stealing the organisation’s funds.

In a video circulating on social media, two police officers in civilian clothes are seen in a meeting with top officials from Sanco who are arguing with the cops on how they failed to follow due process in executing the warrant of arrest against one of their top officials.

The officials are heard telling the cops that they can’t storm into their meeting unannounced and that they also need to be escorted by local police.

“This is not legal. Where are the local police? You must be escorted by the local police,” officials are heard saying in the video.

One of the officers then hands handcuffs to the other and things get almost physical as they try to stop him from arresting one of their own.

TimesLIVE has seen warrants of arrest issued on January 17 against Mpanza and Mdakane with charges of corruption, theft and fraud listed, dating back to January 2014.

One of the delegates at the conference, who wished to remain anonymous because of fear of victimisation, said the charges related to the disappearance of R4m from the account of the organisation which, he said, was supposed to fund community projects.

Provincial police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela could not immediately confirm if Mpanza and Mdakane had been arrested or if indeed they had resisted arrest.

“I’m still trying to get information from Alex [Alexandra] but our officers are there. But I don’t have any details at the moment,” Makhubela said.

Delegates from different provinces gathered at Alexandra Stadium where they were supposed to hold a conference and elect new leadership.

 “We were supposed to start at 11am and that has not happened. You can see that these people don’t want to step down because they know they messed up,” another delegate said.

He said branch delegates had not been accredited.

This is developing story.