Da Defends Dean Macpherson Against Bribery Claims As Eff Opens Case

The Democratic Alliance DA has rejected bribery allegations levelled against Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson.

In a Sunday Times opinion article this week, TV talk show host Prof JJ Tabane cited an allegation that Macpherson had concocted a narrative, with the help of a journalist, to tarnish the reputation of the CEO of the IDT Independent Development Trust.

This appears to be a deliberate plot to replace the CEO with a DA-aligned puppet, Tabane claimed.

A whistle-blower has shared damning information that reveals this conversation between the minister and the journalist, including an exchange of money where the minister paid the journalist to write negative stories about the IDT.

In a statement on Wednesday 22 January, DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp questioned the timing of the allegations against Macpherson and described them as a Bell Pottinger fightback campaign

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 plant tender awarded irregularly by the IDT within his department, Aucamp said.

Minister Macpherson is doing the right thing by unearthing and investigating serious corruption, and by stopping the IDT deal. It is a new culture of corruption-busting, which is what the DA proudly brings to government when we come into office.

Investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh, who co-authored a Daily Maverick article on IDTs oxygen plant tender in December, also reacted to Tabanes claims.

Last year Daily Maverick revealed that the IDT, under CEO Tebogo Malaka, awarded dodgy oxygen plants contracts worth R800m. JJ Tabane now wrote an 'opinion piece' insinuating that I was bribed by Public Works minister Dean MacPherson to slander Malaka. Let's chat on your show, JJ, Myburgh wrote on X on Tuesday.

On Wednesday 22 January, EFF Secretary-General Marshall Dlamini opened a case of corruption against Macpherson at the Pretoria Central police station.