Madibeng mayor Douglas Maimane

Madibeng municipality mayor, Douglas Maimane, will sue an opposition party chairman for R2.5 million if he does not apologise for allegations of misconduct and fraud against the mayor.
This follows after the Save Madibeng party made known its intention to table a motion of no confidence in the mayor as a result of allegations of misconduct and fraud contained in a letter from the mayor’s former personal assistant to the ANC Bojanala region.
In the letter to the ANC in 2023, it is alleged that the personal assistant was required to “conceal certain details” about sexual harassment allegations and a subsequent police case which involved a member of the mayoral committee. In October 2022, a member of the mayoral committee (MMC) of Madibeng Local Municipality opened a case of sexual assault against the mayor at Hartbeespoort police station. The letter also alleges irregularities where the mayor “employed immediate family members and instructed that they be given business opportunities directly as a result of the influence of the mayor’s office”.
In the motion, Save Madibeng requests that a special committee investigate allegations of sexual harassment, his role in ensuring that friends and relatives improperly benefit from municipal business, as well as employment of his daughter and the mother of one of his children.
Maimane sought legal counsel and in a letter to Save Madibeng chairperson Sydney Monnakgotla, Maimane’s legal counsel said the mayor demanded a written apology, which must be published on all social media on which the “unsubstantiated false and defamatory notice of motion and petitions were published, as well as to all email addresses to which it was sent. Failing to apologise, “a summons will be issued for the infringement of our client’s dignity, good name and privacy in an amount of R2.5 000 000 plus costs on a punitive scale.”
Monnakgotla was given until 28 February 2024 to submit his “unconditional apology” to Maimane.