Pule Mabe steps aside as ANC NEC member after court appearance on graft charges

Former ANC national spokesperson and national executive committee member Pule Mabe said after his court appearance on charges of corruption on Wednesday that he had stepped aside from the NEC. 

Mabe said shortly after he was granted bail on Wednesday he had informed ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula of his intention to step aside from the NEC on Sunday. 

Mabe appeared with six other accused in the Palm Ridge specialised commercial crimes court on Wednesday. Mabe and six co-accused were granted R30,000 bail each.

The matter is in connection with a tender of about R27m awarded to Enviro-Mobi in March 2017 by the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development.

Hawks spokesperson Brig Thandi Mbambo said the accused were arrested after a forensic report by the Special Investigating Unit into a tender issued in October 2016 by the department requesting proposals to integrate and formalise waste operatives into the mainstream waste management economy.

It was established during the investigation that R25m was paid to Enviro-Mobi for 200 motorised three-wheelers, “though all goods were in the possession of the service provider” and none had been handed over.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Mabe denied committing a crime. He said he was being persecuted for having given his wife legitimate money to enter into a business. 

Mabe said he resigned his directorship from Enviro-Mobi when he took a position in parliament. 

He said the SIU had gone out of its way to create a case against him which did not exist. 

“We trust in the ability of the investigating team; we also have confidence in the prosecutorial team that in doing their work they will make sure that they apply themselves to the correct facts put before them.”

Mabe said being accused of a crime did not mean one was guilty. 

He added that he would advise the ANC’s  integrity commission of the charges. 

“We will also advise the integrity commission of the ANC of these charges. We are doing so not because we are guilty, we are doing so because over the past 30 years that we have been members of the ANC, we have understood the importance of carrying resolutions of the ANC with everything else that we do.

“A renewed ANC requires us to position ourselves differently to know that once charged ... [with] serious crimes we must not make the life of the ANC difficult,” he said. 

Mabe was previously the ANC Youth League treasurer-general during Julius Malema’s term. 

He became the party’s national spokesperson during Ace Magashule’s tenure and was said to be aligned with the expelled leader. However, later on, Mabe dissociated himself from the Magashule faction and drew closer to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s camp. 

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