Maphefo Sarah Mogale-Letsie, also known as Sarah Madinge-Letsie, is a South African politician who has represented the
African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
(ANC) in the
Gauteng Provincial Legislature
The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Natio ...
since 2021. She was formerly the Mayor of
Merafong City from 2011 until March 2021, when her party removed her from office after she was implicated in the
VBS Mutual Bank scandal.
Mayor of Mogale
From 2011 to 2021, Mogale-Letsie was Executive Mayor of
Merafong City Local Municipality;
she was re-elected to a second term in the office after the
2016 local elections. In addition, in July 2018, she was elected Regional Chairperson of the ANC's branch in the
West Rand
The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold ...
.
During her tenure in office, the municipality invested
R50 million in
VBS Mutual Bank
VBS Mutual Bank was a South African mutual bank. In 2018 it was declared insolvent and bankrupt and placed under curatorship, with South African citizens and taxpayers defrauded out of roughly R2 billion.
It was formed as Venda Building Soc ...
, in contravention of laws prohibiting such investments by municipalities.
The internal Integrity Committee of the ANC's Gauteng branch investigated her involvement. In August 2020, the committee reported that it had not found evidence of corruption but nonetheless recommended that Mogale-Letsie should "
step aside" because of her "failure to take action" against municipal officials involved in corruption. She was instructed to resign as mayor and decline any further nomination to public office.
The ''
Mail & Guardian'' said that she and
Boyce Maneli, the former West Rand Mayor who was also asked to step aside, were "considered the fall guys for the ANC".
Both Mogale-Letsie and Maneli refused to follow the Integrity Committee's recommendation and sought to appeal the decision,
but, on 31 March 2021, the Mogale council removed Mogale-Letsie from her position as mayor. The opposition
Democratic Alliance said that her removal, which had been supported by the ANC's majority caucus, had not been effected according to proper procedure.
Provincial legislature
Mogale-Letsie remained an ordinary local councilor in Merafong until 7 September 2021, when she resigned from the council.
Later the same afternoon, she was sworn into the Gauteng Provincial Legislature under the alias Sarah Madinge-Letsie; she filled a casual vacancy in the ANC caucus.
In February 2022, the ANC's National Dispute Resolution Committee cleared Mogale-Letsie of wrongdoing in the VBS saga, overturning the earlier order for her to step aside. In contradiction to the provincial Integrity Committee, the national committee found that Mogale-Letsie, while mayor, had acted swiftly to investigate and respond to the VBS allegations.
References
External links
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{{Gauteng MPLs
African National Congress politicians
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
21st-century South African politicians
Mayors of places in South Africa