Chris Pappas, who was this week named as the DA’s candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal has been ensnared in accusations that his fiancé scored tourism funding from his municipality. File Picture: Facebook
The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal has come out swinging against the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs who confirmed it had tasked officials to probe allegations of nepotism against uMngeni Municipality Mayor, Chris Pappas.
The DA has called the probe baseless and based on “high school gossip”.
Pappas, who was this week named as the DA’s candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal has been ensnared in accusations that his fiancé scored tourism funding from his municipality.
The allegations were made anonymously online and amplified when former DA leader, Sizwe Mchunu wrote to the Public Protector’s office asking it to investigate the claims.
Now, the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs said it was “concerned” by the allegations and launched an investigation.
“The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has been made aware of reports circulating across various platforms regarding allegations of nepotism against Cllr Christopher Pappas, the Mayor of Umngeni Local Municipality,” MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi said in a statement.
“These reports suggest that a non-profit organisation called uMngeni Tourism, purportedly chaired by Mayor Pappas's fiancé, Jean-Pierre Prinsloo, has received funding from uMngeni Municipality. While we refrain from making judgments about the veracity of these allegations, we express our concern.
“In accordance with our constitutional mandate, we have instructed relevant officials to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. This investigation will enable us to address the issue promptly and effectively. Once the investigation is concluded, the department will take appropriate actions based on its findings”.
Dean McPherson, the DA’s Provincial Chairperson said the allegations against Pappas was nothing but “high school gossip”.
“Cogta should rather focus on collapsing municipalities across the province. That is where their time would be better spent,” McPherson said.
“They have never investigated anything at eThekwini and they have not investigated the collapse of Msunduzi and now they are going to entertain themselves with high school gossip where there is not a single shred of evidence that's been provided. That just tells you everything you need to know about Cogta,” he said.
Both Pappas and the uMngeni Municipality have denied wrongdoing.
The Speaker of uMngeni told IOL that there was no impropriety committed by Pappas, that he had declared his relationship with Prinsloo and when the relationship ended on March 2023, he declared that too.
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