Sihlahla probe on ice – for now

These are delaying tactics because they know it is near the end of the year

A damning report implicating Buffalo City Metro manager Andile Sihlahla was shelved at the 11th hour on Wednesday after warring factions in the ruling party could not agree whether the report should be tabled or not.

The report, compiled by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), recommends that city manager Andile Sihlahla be taken through disciplinary processes and for some top officials implicated in the probe to be put on precautionary suspension.

The agenda of the day was amended after ANC chief whip Mzwandile Vaaibom proposed that the report be withdrawn as MPAC Chair Zameka KodwaGajula was not present.

Sources close to the ANC said that one faction wanted to protect the city manager.

“These are delaying tactics because they know it is near the end of the year. But the report, as it is, they cannot mess with the content because the content reflects facts.”

The probe by MPAC stems from a deviation on the appointment of an audit firm Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo (SNG) to do the annual stocktake in June this year. The investigation came after the Dispatch exposed how the deviation went through without being approved.

Officials from Raymond Mhlaba municipality were appointed as temporary staff to execute the stocktake.

This prompted the council to request MPAC to probe the matter and produce a report on the matter.

The report seen by the Dispatch lashes BCM management for failing to plan ahead for the stocktake as it is an annual event. “The approval of this deviation appears to have been merely a convenient default to cover for procurement arrangements that had not been done timeously.”

MPAC found that the deviation was a shortcut for poor planning. The deviation was not approved which resulted to irregular expenditure.

“The information submitted to the committee by the management clearly displayed a well co-coordinated non-compliance to municipal administrative processes, maladministration and abuse of authority… which require further investigations,” part of the report reads.

The report further recommends disciplinary proceedings and precautionary suspensions against “all the named officials”.

It also recommends that the Raymond Mhlaba municipality employees be reported to their municipal manager.