DA rejects corruption allegations against Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson
The allegations against Macpherson appeared in an opinion piece by JJ Tabane in the Sunday Times.
FILE: Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson. Picture: GCIS
CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has come out to defend Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson, who is accused of corruption.
Macpherson reportedly bribed a journalist to write negatively about the Independent Development Trust (IDT), hoping to replace its CEO with a DA-aligned individual.
However, the party says fighting corruption makes them “targets of smear campaigns and death threats”, adding it won’t be deterred.
The allegations against Macpherson appeared in an opinion piece by JJ Tabane in the Sunday Times.
In the piece, Tabane insinuates that Macpherson bribed journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh to slander IDT Tebogo Malaka.
But DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp said nothing could be further from the truth.
READ: Macpherson's move to probe R800m oxygen tender divides Parly committee
"The DA categorically rejects the allegations being made against Dean Macpherson, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, primarily by political consultant JJ Tabane, who moonlights as a media personality."
Aucamp said it's no surprise the allegations come as Macpherson tries to deal with corruption in the department.
"It is not just suspicious, but in fact entirely transparent, that these allegations come just as Macpherson is exposing, investigating and stopping serious corruption - including an R800-million scandal involving an oxygen tender awarded irregularly by the entity known as the Independent Development Trust within his department."
He says the IDT has been unable to submit audited financials since August last year, and has run out of money under what he calls “shambolic leadership”.