The controversy surrounding the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) has come to the fore once again as Deputy President Paul Mashatile has warned that claims aimed at tarnishing his reputation won’t succeed “as he has nothing to hide”.
Mashatile’s family is at the centre of allegations involving his R37 million house in Waterfall registered under Legacy Properties, a company owned by his son Thabiso and son-in-law Nceba Nonkwelo.
It’s been also reported that Nonkwelo Investments “received at least four loans from the Gauteng Partnership Fund meant to build student accommodation”.
But in an exclusive interview with , Mashatile said during his tenure in office, particularly in Gauteng, he had never been accused of corruption, despite leading many projects.
One such project is the ARP.
He said during his stint as MEC for housing in the province, he and others had been accused of misappropriating billions of Rands.
“They accused us of R1.9 billion that disappeared. Just go to the auditor (records) and you’ll see that the money was spent for what it was meant for. In fact, many people thought we got 1.9 billion. No.”
He said while the cost was projected to be almost R2 billion, the respective departments involved paid for their part.
“If we had to build a school, the Department of Education paid. If we were mandated to do roads, the roads department paid. If we were meant to do water reticulation, the City of Johannesburg paid. So no money was brought to us. As the MEC for housing, we paid for the houses. But people thought Mashatile received something billion, but you can’t see what has been done, no, there’s no such,” he said.
Mashatile, who sat down with on Wednesday in an interview relating to his political career and role as Deputy President, indicated that the notion of the Alex Mafia was a farce.
“The Alex Mafia doesn’t exist. It was coined by people for their own ulterior motives.”
He added: “The people they are talking about are not just my friends. They are political activists. We grew up in Alexandra. We were in the Alexandra Youth Congress. I was with them in prison. Now, there are allegations that they are successful because I’m in government and they are my friends. These are very good comrades. The rumours about the Alex Mafia don’t start today. We were called Alex Mafia when I was still in Gauteng. I left Gauteng in 2009. I guess now they say Alex Mafia is at the Union Buildings. There’s no Alex Mafia in the Union Buildings. There’s Paul Mashatile, a very good man that works for the people. That’s it.”
Asked if he was using the media to clean up his image, Mashatile dismissed this, saying what has been clear is that there is a concerted effort to publish stories in the media that “must show people that I’m not the right person to be where I should be. It’s been said that I’m surrounded by friends who are not right and that I live the life of a rich guy. But I’m not rich.”
He has since called on those who have pinned corruption claims on him to conduct a probe around his lifestyle, saying records will show that he has not been involved in any dodgy dealings.
