FAMILY AFFAIR
Anger, resignations over R900 000 job for ‘son’ of BCM mayor Pakati
QUESTIONS have been raised about the controversial appointment of a 27-year-old graduate, who publicly claims to be the “son” of Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati, into an almost R1-million-a-year job.
Aphiwe Nkosimbini reported for duty in February as the new deputy head of contract management and litigations in the legal department.
The municipality initially advertised in August that the preferred candidate should have at least five years’ working experience.
The advert, seen by the Saturday Dispatch, stated that two of the five years’ experience should be at a local government legal environment, while practical court experience was an advantage. Nkosimbini did not meet these.
Then in September, the city readvertised the post but this time the working experience had been lowered to three years – a move insiders believe was to ensure it suited Nkosimbini, who got the nod for the position for almost a million rands.
The top job also comes with a R41 000 annual bonus and a R14 508 cellphone allowance. The total package was advertised as R877 688 per annum.
Just two years ago, Nkosimbini was an attorney dealing with civil litigations at Smith Tabata Attorneys. Smith Tabata Attorneys director Yanda Mnqaba confirmed Nkosimbini worked for their firm from October 2016 to February this year as an attorney dealing with civil litigations.
Now, Nkosimbini is second in charge of BCM’s legal department. His appointment has resulted in a lot of unhappiness from former staffers, who had more experience than him.
Two left this year after Nkosimbini’s arrival in February. Sources within the municipality have questioned why someone with only two years’ experience was given a senior position at the municipality.
Sources believe Nkosimbini, 27, landed the job because of who his “father” is, rather than being the best person for the top position.
“He earns a salary on the top notch. No one just starts at the top notch, but Aphiwe is paid at a top notch of a level 16. Now for a person that never worked at a municipality his salary could never have been higher than an entry level. Is it because he is the mayor’s son?
“He does not have these qualifications [five years’ legal experience of which a minimum of two years must be at a local government legal environment with practical court experience an advantage] and yet he was employed by this municipality thanks to the influence from his father. This is a metro, not some small municipality,” the livid insider said.
Another source said that five senior employees within the legal department have left since July last year citing other irregular appointments at the department. Two of them are said to have left after Nkosimbini was appointed to the senior position.
“The issue of new appointments made at the office of the city manager of BCMM, especially in the legal department, need in-depth investigation owing to how things were done and the impact to old staff who were there.”
The source said the appointments had a negative impact on the staff which led to the resignations.
“There has been a lot of abnormalities around Nkosimbini’s post. There has been a manipulation of requirements and noncompliance with procedures for amendment of requirements,” the source said.
Adding to the controversy is the fact that when the requirements were lowered, there was apparently no consultation.
“The amendment procedures require a transparent and open process where all relevant stakeholders, including the head of the department, HR and representative unions, are invited to participate in a formally recorded process. Presentations are done and only when the committee satisfies itself, can the amendment be done. Without this process, requirements cannot be implemented. This was ignored and there was lowering of the requirements and standards.”
One of those who quit after Nkosimbini’s appointment was Buyiseka Mtati, who sources say met all the requirements. It is not clear if Mtati had applied for the job.
“Mtati was with the municipality for close to seven years and she contributed in stabilising the control environment and assist the department maintain a clean audit opinion consistently over the period of her tenure,” the source said.
The municipality also lost Zolile Vumazonke, who was with the city’s legal department for 13 years.
“In his case he had applied for the operations manager post but was not shortlisted though he was acting in the role with similar functions for about two years.
“This post also revealed shenanigans and manipulation as requirements were changed without following amendment procedures.”
While Nkosimbini has proudly posted pictures of him and Pakati on social networking site, Instagram, identifying him as his father, the mayor yesterday said he did not have a son employed by the metro.
“I do not know what you are talking about. The only person who is involved with Aphiwe’s appointment is the city manager. How can Aphiwe be my son? I do not have a son working at the municipality,” Pakati said.
Nkosimbini only said: “I have nothing to say to you, I have no comment to this.”
On March 27, metro spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya said: “It’s a policy of council not to discuss employer and employees relations with the public on any matters as this is in the interest of all parties concerned and respects contract agreements. The same will apply in this case; we are not going to offer a comment.”
Then on April 1, Ngwenya said the city had lowered the requirements to attract more applicants. “Firstly, it [is] disingenuous to link the withdrawal and re-advertising of a group advert to one employee as we are on record on how the posts relates to our commitment to establish municipal courts.
“The group advert carried about 10 posts, seven of which related to legal services. We wanted to have a broader pool of applicants that will bring in more than a sectoral capabilities,” he said.
He dismissed the claims that Nkosimbini got the job because of who his “father” is as a “witchhunt aimed at tarnishing the mayor’s image”.
Ngwenya said Pakati was only involved in the appointment of the city manager and not the 5 400 municipal staffers. “According to us, the recruitment process was lawful, transparent and impartial.” — bhongoj@tisoblackstar.co.za