Speaker, earlier this year, the DA employed an election propaganda programme aimed at duping people into believing that Midvaal was a clean, perfectly managed municipality. Voters were promised that, should they vote the DA into more municipalities in Gauteng, targeting Johannesburg, they would be run in the same way as the Midvaal Municipality.
We are thankful that the voters saw through the DA's lies and ensured that its bid to secure more municipalities in Gauteng failed. As the Public Protector's report revealed, governing other municipalities like Midvaal would have meant further opportunities for party leaders to illegally take millions from the public purse and breach municipal, financial and administrative laws.
By profiting from contracts worth millions, using his access to information to score contracts for his illegal firm, and illegally doing business with the very municipality he leads, Mr Andre Odendaal has at last unmasked the real frightening face of his party. Now the nation knows that the DA, far from being the champion of good governance, is riddled with hypocrisy, fraud, deceit and moral bankruptcy. Criminal charges must now be laid against Mr Odendaal and other municipal leaders and staff who colluded with him.
The DA leader, Helen Zille, must now eat humble pie and apologise to the Midvaal community for the damage the municipality has caused, which includes compromising access to housing, and to the nation for the lies she has spread regarding the Midvaal Municipality. Thank you. [Applause.]