Johannesburg – The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) chairperson must resign because he has a conflict of interest in municipal mergers in the Vaal, the DA said on Wednesday.

“We believe that this conflict could have had a serious impact on the outcome of the MDB’s decision to merge Midvaal municipality and Emfuleni municipality into a metro,” DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said in a statement.

The DA claimed Landiwe Mahlangu was a non-executive member of the company Sea Kay Holdings, which was contracted by the department of housing in 2008 to build 1 500 houses in Emfuleni.

It also claimed that he was a non-executive member of a waste management company called Interwaste.

MDB spokesperson Jabu Mthembu could not be reached for comment.

“According to Emfuleni’s 2012/13 annual report, Interwaste operates the Waldrift landfill site in Emfuleni municipality,” Maimane said.

“The DA believes that this is a serious conflict of interest on behalf of the MDB chair and that his decision-making process is questionable by virtue of these two positions.”

Unethical decisions

He charged that it was unethical for Mahlangu to make decisions about the merging of municipalities in which he had business interests.

“Mr Mahlangu should at the very least have recused himself from the decision to merge these municipalities due to the lucrative business interests he holds,” Maimane said.

“We believe that a fundamental lack of integrity has been demonstrated by Mr Mahlangu that undermines the credibility of the MDB in general, and that he should resign to preserve the standing of this important constitutional body.”

The announcement of the merger of Emfuleni, Midvaal and Sedibeng into a metro was made last Tuesday.

The Emfuleni municipality incorporates Vanderbijlpark and Sebokeng. Midvaal includes Meyerton and Randvaal. Sedibeng covers Heidelberg and Ratanda.

Maimane said the DA was seeking a legal opinion on reviewing the decision to merge the municipalities.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) said the merger should be scrapped following the allegations about Mahlangu.

– SAPA