ANC lays criminal charges against Johannesburg former DA MMC

The ANC in Johannesburg has laid criminal charges against former MMC for Economic Development Sharon Peetz in a bid to recover about R40‚000.

Peetz‚ a former DA member who was unceremoniously fired in August by Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba for suspected misconduct‚ allegedly took her mother‚ Susan Peterson‚ on an official trip to Barcelona‚ Spain last year‚ as a member of the city’s official delegation‚ at taxpayers’ expense. She was also stripped of her party membership.

The ANC alleges that Peetz falsified a proof of payment to a travel agency to appear that she‚ and not the city‚ paid for her mother to accompany her on the official trip.

"When we did our investigation‚ and through the papers that we served through General Sibiya's office‚ it showed that the said official was never employed by the city‚ and Susan Peterson is the mother of the former MMC‚" said ANC chief whip in Johannesburg Solly Mogase.

He was speaking to reporters outside Jeppe police station shortly after laying the charges on Monday afternoon.

"An amount of R40‚000 was spent‚ and she claimed that she put in money through [a travel] agent that was preparing that trip. It has come to our attention that she [presented] council [with] false information‚" said Mogase.

"When we brought this up as the ANC caucus‚ the mayor first refused to accept that that process was illegal... then he came back to council and told us about releasing the said MMC‚ because she falsified the information to council‚" the chief whip added.

In August‚ Mashaba dismissed Peetz from her portfolio‚ despite a forensic investigation that revealed that the payment is still outstanding to the travel agency‚ so the city had not suffered any monetary losses.

The mayor said Peetz had misled not only him‚ but the residents of Johannesburg and the council.

"I have made it clear that under my leadership‚ the City of Johannesburg will not tolerate such conduct any longer. Irrespective of one's role in the city‚ and irrespective of your political affiliation‚ there will be accountability for wrongdoing‚" Mashaba said in August‚ when he dismissed Peetz.

Earlier this year‚ Peetz and the metro's acting director of mayoral communications‚ Luyanda Mfeka‚ denied any misconduct‚ after TimesLIVE obtained the very same information about the trip to Barcelona last December.

Mfeka has denied that the MMC took her mother along on the trip.