City of Joburg “breaks” its own rule

Special council on official’s suspension

The City of Joburg may have flouted its own rules when it suspended its building control officer (BCO), Azwindini Mulaudzi, amid allegations of irregularities in the issuing of notices.

Now, in an attempt to correct the error, the city will tomorrow hold a special council sitting to get approval for an acting BCO, three weeks after suspending Mulaudzi.

The absence of a BCO may have delayed several new developments amounting to hundreds of millions of rands, as no new plans could have been approved or building site inspections authorised.

Mulaudzi was suspended last month by member of the mayoral committee for planning development, Reuben Masango, pending probes into various allegations of misconduct. Masango told Sowetan yesterday: “The building control officer is only appointed by council but in terms of reporting lines, it falls within our department so it’s not a prerogative to either suspend or discipline that individual.”

Masango said the negative response by developers to Mulaudzi’s suspension was very suspicious. “I have been engaging with developers. I’m curious about how they’ve reacted to the suspension of the building control officer. For me, it says there’s something very wrong there.”

Yesterday, the ANC in Johannesburg accused the city of failing to adhere to laws, as Mulaudzi was a council appointee and his suspension should also have been taken by council. ANC convener for development planning in the metro, Ruby Mathang, said mayor Herman Mashaba’s administration flouted national legislation. Mathang cited section 6 of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, which stated that a municipality may only take decisions to approve or decline building plans on the recommendation of the BCO.

Mulaudzi told Sowetan yesterday that his position was a “legal requirement”.

“The process was not followed … council should have made provisions for someone to act on my behalf,” he said.