Maverick mayor off the hook

2003-11-17 15:08

Sizwe samaYende

Piet Retief - Maverick Piet Retief mayor Andries Gamede is off the hook on assault charges after a senior prosecutor in Mpumalanga decided not to prosecute the case.

Gamede faced a charge of grabbing National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union [Nehawu] organiser Joseph Nkadimeng by the throat and flooring him on September 3 in front of about 20 workers, as well as senior officials from his Mkhondo municipality and local government in Nelspruit.

Nkadimeng raised concerns two weeks ago after Piet Retief police told him that the local court prosecutors declined to prosecute.

The docket then went missing and Ermelo-based regional senior prosecutor Leorna Lloyd intervened.

On Monday, she confirmed that the police had referred the case to court and that a prosecutor declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.

"I reviewed the docket myself and saw that the decision was made on the grounds of insufficient evidence," she said. "There were many contradictory statements from witnesses and, based on that, the prosecutor saw no reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution." Nkadimeng claimed that Gamede attacked him after intruding in a meeting.

Nkadimeng was negotiating on behalf of the former local government department workers who complain that since they were transferred to work at Gamede's municipality, they were being paid late and that deductions were not transferred to their insurers.

Gamede allegedly asked the unionist and his followers to identify themselves and thereafter accused the workers of being "lazy" and ordered them to leave.

Nkadimeng, who had not seen Gamede before, also asked him to identify himself - an action, which apparently angered the mayor.

This is the not the first time the mayor has been embroiled in controversy.

He outraged his fellow councillors in June this year when he allegedly loaned the council's flashy Mercedes Benz for two weeks to his Durban girlfriend, Ukhozi FM current affairs presenter Za Memela.

The R250 000 limousine only re-appeared when Gamede arrived at June 16 celebrations in Witbank with Memela in his arm.

Gamede denied the allegations but refused to provide a logbook or his itinerary detailing the whereabouts of the Merc over the two weeks.

During his first mayoral term after the 1995 first local government elections, Gamede issued six ANC councillors with pistols as part of a public safety programme at taxpayers' expense.

In 2001, he fired Piet Retief's town clerk Teddy Khoza after calling him a "womaniser and a drunkard" but was later forced to authorise a R190 000 out-of-court settlement at taxpayer expense when it became obvious Khoza would win his unfair dismissal case.

- African Eye