City of Tshwane mayor resigns, Hawks likely to swoop in soon

Former City of Tshwane Speaker and Mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency (ANA)

Former City of Tshwane Speaker and Mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Mar 10, 2023

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It remains to be seen if the Hawks will swoop in on the embattled on-and-off City of Tshwane mayor Murunwa Makwarela - who has since tendered his resignation less than 24 hours after he was reinstated.

The Congress of the People councillor was forced to call it quits on Friday amid his fraud scandal involving his "so-called“ insolvency rehabilitation certificate.

The row over the legal document follows a statement by the court which refuted the legitimacy of the certificate in question that Makwarela claims to have obtained.

In a statement also issued on Friday, Tumelo Ledwaba, the Chief Registrar of the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division in Pretoria, stated that the court at no point issued an insolvency clearance certificate to Makwarela.

"I can also confirm that no rehabilitation order has ever been issued regarding the parties named in the said document," he said.

The comments by Ledwaba are in stark contrast to Makwarela's insistence that he obtained the insolvency rehabilitation certificate which he also handed over to Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) accepted.

The Hawks are yet to to confirm if investigations have commenced.

The Democratic Alliance has since laid fraud charges against Makwarela at the Brooklyn Police Station alongside its coalition partners coalition partners namely Action SA, IFP, ACDP and Freedom Front Plus.

IOL