Deputy finance minister David Masondo, who has been asked by the integrity commission of the African National Congress (ANC) to ‘voluntarily step aside’ from his Cabinet post, was reportedly ‘taken aback’ at the investigation of his conduct.
The request for him to step down arose over revelations of an affair he had, the details of which spilt into the public domain, TimesLIVE reported.
The news report said the commission’s report stated that it did not buy Masondo’s version of events.
TimesLIVE quoted the report as saying: ‘The garbled lengthy and nonsensical account and the serious lack of clear thinking resulted in the commission not fully believing in what was being said and certainly doubting his ability to assess and judge a situation and how to extricate himself. While he knew he had made a mistake, he never expressed remorse or ever once mentioned that he has displayed poor judgment on the handling of the matter.
‘His response to the questions posed on the abuse of women were disappointing, distasteful and patronising. Not only has he not internalised the objective conditions facing women, he did not even show an understanding on this issue rather blaming the media throughout. Repeating slogans on the emancipation of women to the commission was not helpful to his case.’
Masondo has hit back saying that when he approached the commission to discuss the matter last year when it went public, the chairperson had indicated to him that the group had initially declined to look into the matter.
News24 reported that it understood the integrity commission’s chairperson, George Mashamba, had written to Masondo asking him to voluntarily step down from his position given accusations against him that he had used his influence as deputy minister to set the Hawks on a former lover.
The report said that AmaBhungane reported last year that Masondo had used his influence and state resources to settle a personal score with a former mistress by having her arrested for extortion.