Official denies wrongdoing

‘SOUR GRAPES’

- WILLEM PHUNGULA

ANC regional fundraiser in Nokuhamba Nyawo region (Umkhanyakude), Thobelani Ncamphalala says the extortion allegations against him are a political plot by party members who lost in the 2021 regional conference.

Neamphalala, the former mayor of Inkosi Umtubatuba Local Municipality and former ANC regional secretary, was named alongside a senior official in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality, in the northeast of KwaZulu-Natal, in a recent report compiled by Bamba Ndwandwe.

Ndwandwe is the administrator who has been appointed to the entity, but his appointment has been disputed by some Umkhanyakude officials.

They are accused of having received R10 million in kickbacks from a service provider that had scored a R153m water project in the district.

Breaking his silence on the allegations that surfaced earlier this month, which was backed by evidence in Ndwandwe’s dossier, Ncamphalala denied receiving money from the service provider.

“The case is a plan by abantu esabahlula enkomfeni ngo 2021 (The case is a plan orchestrated by those we defeated in the 2021 conference)” he said.

“The same person they used in 2021 to bankroll a plan to kill me, leading up to the regional conference, is the one who is accusing me of taking a bribe.