Opposition party members call on Hill-Lewis to protect integrity of CoCT's council by removing Smith, Limberg

CAPE TOWN - Hundreds of opposition members are calling on Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to protect the integrity of the city council by removing JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg from office.

The call comes after the Hawks raided the offices of the two mayoral committee members on Friday.

In a statement, police indicated that the raid was related to a tender fraud forensic investigation for a case that is already before the courts.

The opposition parties said that their demonstration outside the City of Cape Town Civic Centre on Thursday was aimed at forcing Hill-Lewis to remove Smith and MMC Limberg from office.

The protest follows a statement from the mayor that he was briefed by police on Wednesday about the ongoing alleged tender fraud investigations linking Smith and Limberg.

He indicated that the police were not able to provide any evidence of wrongdoing during the briefing which would warrant the removal of the two mayoral committee members from office.

Meanwhile, provincial Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secretary and member of council, Bazi Dambuza, said there's no truth in Hill-Lewis' statement.

"Helen Zille is the one who took a strong position and said he must be saved and then after that, the decision was given to Geordin Hill-Lewis to be the one who takes the decision. Now Geordin comes to us and informed us that he spoke to the police. In what capacity?"

Dambuza added that the investigation into Smith and Limberg wouldn’t be taking place if there was no wrongdoing on their part.