Teta is an evil man – Masebo

Teta is an evil man – Masebo
Written by Patson Chilemba
Friday, July 03, 2009 3:19:34 PM

FORMER local government minister Sylvia Masebo yesterday charged that her successor Benny Tetamashimba is an evil man. And Masebo said Tetamashimba had damaged her image in the eyes of the public.

Featuring on 5 FM's Burning Issue programme, Masebo said people told her to be careful with Tetamashimba when he was appointed her deputy by late president Levy Mwanawasa.

"You know he's an evil man I can tell you. Even when he was appointed and brought to my ministry, everybody called me, 'be careful with that man, he's already undermining you'. I called him to my office to say 'listen, this is what people think about you. So can you try to prove them wrong'. I told him myself, I never hid him," she said.

Masebo said it was sad for Tetamashimba to be digressing the nation from real issues such as strikes, high poverty levels to a situation which was becoming embarrassing. She charged that Tetamashimba was a liar, who constantly changed positions on issues.

Masebo said she operated on an open-door policy towards her officials in the ministry and that there was never a time she declined to see Tetamashimba.

"I said to them, there is nothing, these are public offices. 'I don't have any secrets in my office. So let them see me'. And I made a joke, I said once to them, 'unless the secretary tells you that she's with her husband or she's with her boyfriend, and may be at that stage, you can give me five minutes to kiss my husband. So don't come in the office.' I made that joke to them,"

Masebo said. "Of course, Tetamashimba was not as committed to his work like Dr Kazonga, no. You know he was a person who had so many things. You know, these are people who when they are in office, they don't concentrate. They are doing so many things using public office."

Masebo said she received a phone call recently from someone who served with Tetamashimba in the UPND and was told that the minister of local government was a very dirty schemer.

She said Tetamashimba destroyed the UPND by alienating hard working people who were close to the late party president Anderson Mazoka.

"She said to me 'be careful, don't underrate him, and he will keep confusing you people in MMD. By the time you realise it, the party would have been divided, the party would have been destroyed'," Masebo said. "I can tell you that today the party has problems because of Tetamashimba. He does not respect anybody. He undermines everybody."

Masebo said she explained everything to Vice-President George Kunda and even on why she initially refused to speak over the transactions during her tenure.

She said Vice-President Kunda was handling the matter before Tetamashimba went to seek President Rupiah's Banda's involvement.

"I explained everything to the Vice-President, and the Vice-President had directed Tetamashimba that he be the one to deal with the matter. I cannot be the one to deal with the matter because I am out of government and that would be setting a bad precedence, a wrong precedence," Masebo said.

"But the man, and I know that the man went to the President to tell him, 'no, let her speak because she knows something. She's guilty'."

And Masebo said those who were in office were abusing their ministerial positions, just to make a name that they had reported others to the investigative wings.

She said this made ordinary members of the public start to think that people like herself had been involved in some corrupt actions.

"It's unfortunate because then, it's not possible for me to clear my name in an effective way, you know to destroy somebody's name is very easy, to build is very difficult. So Tetamashimba has made very damaging [statements], he's really damaged my image in the eyes of the public, and I am sure some people there think there is something wrong that I have done," she said.

Masebo said she would instruct her lawyers to seek legal redress since there were allegations that she acted corruptly.

However, Masebo said she would give some documentations she had to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Auditor General's office to assist them in their investigations.

Asked if she had received a call from ACC, Masebo said she was still waiting to receive one.

Asked if President Banda had called her, Masebo responded: "He hasn't called me. He's very busy."