R5 Million Wasted on Mettler Witch-Hunt

Statement by Ald Cilliers Brink – DA Tshwane Mayoral Candidate:

The DA has been vindicated for its defense of Johan Mettler the Tshwane City Manager during a baseless EFF/ ANC/ ActionSA witch-hunt at great expense for the taxpayers of Tshwane. This happened during the Tshwane Metro’s council meeting on Thursday when the council accepted a report from an investigator that found no grounds to act against Mettler.

The report was damning on his accusers finding that their allegations were unfounded, unsubstantiated and not substantiated. Terms that appeared 60 times in the investigator’s report.

It was on these trumped-up charges that the ANC/EFF/ActionSA coalition and Mayor Nasiphi Moya sought to suspend Mettler for three months.

On a conservative estimate, the matter has cost taxpayers about R5 million. This includes the cost of litigation, as the DA and Solidarity had to go to court to have Mettler’s unlawful suspension set aside.

Tshwane’s governing coalition partners, including ActionSA, voted down a recommendation, that we made, to investigate the complaint for making baseless allegations and incurring fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

The complainant is Obakeng Ramabodu, an EFF member of Moya’s mayoral committee. He was notably absent during the debate on the Mettler report.

From the outset, we have said that the allegations against Mettler are trumped up and have the ulterior purpose of removing guardrails against fraud and corruption in the nation’s capital.

We will write to the Auditor-General to highlight Ramabodu’s culpability in the wasting of taxpayers’ money, but ultimately Mayor Nasiphi Moya also has to account for acting on a matter that was self-evidently baseless from the outset.

As outlined in our Manifesto 2026, if elected, we will strive to build corruption-free and professional municipalities by appointing competent people based on merit, not political connections.

We believe that honest, hardworking officials like Mettler should be protected and not punished, and we will not hesitate to come to their defence.