Democratic Alliance MP Lindiwe Mazibuko yesterday unreservedly withdrew remarks identifying the current Sentech chairperson, Zanele Hlatshwayo, with the disgraced former Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) mayor of the same name.
Mazibuko's statement says she had it on good authority from a number of reputable sources that the governing party had redeployed the mayor as a director on the Sentech board. The former mayor, along with almost all her councillors, was fired by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal last month.
“It has now emerged that the Zanele Hlatshwayo who now sits on the [Sentech] board is not the former-mayor of Msunduzi and only bears the same name,” Mazibuko says.
She says she was given the information by a number of sources, including a reputable KwaZulu-Natal newspaper and, believing it to be of importance, criticised the decision.
“I have written to Ms Hlatshwayo to apologise for the misidentification and any consequent offence or distress which may have been caused by the accusations levelled at her,” Mazibuko says.
Ismail Vadi (ANC), chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, says he welcomes Mazibuko's retraction and apology and hopes that the matter can now be put behind them.
“It was a very embarrassing event. The person affected was sitting in the gallery at the time Ms Mazibuko made her remarks. If these remarks were made outside of Parliament she could have been held up for libel. It proves that members of the legislature must get their facts straight,” he says.
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