The contest for the premiership of Gauteng continues to hot up, and the United Democratic Movement (UDM) has announced Professor Mthunzi Mdwaba as its premier candidate for the province.
Mdwaba has been serving as Productivity SA chairperson since 2015 and holds a BA degree in African Politics and Industrial Sociology as well as an LLB degree from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
He made headlines late last year when he dropped a bombshell that implicated Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, as well as ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula in an alleged grand-scale tender bribe.
At the time, Mdwaba alleged that three Cabinet ministers approached him, through emissaries, demanding “gateway fees” of R500 million, which would be 10% of a R5 billion Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) deal, which he had secured as seed capital to create employment for 250 000 people, in a jobs scheme.
Following his revelations, the accused ministers had threatened legal action, while Mbalula opened a crimen injuria case at the Sandton police station. The ministers and Mbalula want Mdwaba to apologise.
The UDM’s premier candidate has recently slammed Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s Nasi Ispani jobs programme as nothing but a “fake” carbon copy of his idea both Nxesi and he stole, hence they were not implementing it correctly.
Introducing Mdwaba, the party’s president, General Bantu Holomisa, said he was thrilled to welcome Mdwaba on board, knowing that his energy, experience, and leadership would invigorate the campaign in Gauteng.
Holomisa continued to say that the professor would bring the much-needed changes the people of Gauteng were longing for, adding that with the full support of the party’s structures, he was poised to lead the charge effectively.
Addressing the media, Mdwaba said the province was on the precipice of a disaster on so many levels.
He said it was a classic turnaround case that required residents to hit the ground running to be able to fix it.
“Faced with being a failed state and Gauteng as the economic hub of the country, as well as the largest of the provinces, must lead the regeneration or deal with the tragedy of going down with all the other provinces. To be able to have collective confidence for the team, as well as the Gauteng citizens we must have short-term quick wins, as well medium- and long-term objectives that we must implement literally on the run. As an endurance and multidisciplinary fitness and health fanatic, the UDM team and I can and will achieve this.
“We must end theoretical conjecture by deployees who lack the knowledge, experience and understanding of what needs to be done for our province to be a job-rich, poverty-busting and thriving world-class economy,” Mdwaba stated.
He further said that the days of sloganeering and populist rhetoric designed to manipulate the citizens must be flushed out of the system.
“The UDM has by far one of the best manifestos. The UDM has by far the best track record and pedigree in dealing with corruption and being the leader in getting corrupt officials and politicians from the current regime and has demonstrated a fearlessness, decisiveness and passion in confronting corruption head-on!”
Mdwaba continued to describe his party’s manifesto as one of the best manifestos among all the political parties.
“We shall use it as a guide as we focus on Gauteng priorities. Given the messy situation in which the socio-economic realities are in, the list is rather long for areas that require urgent attention. I shall in a more comprehensive format, set out my Gauteng plan and objectives in the next few days.”
The Star
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