EFF demands Tshwane chief of staff be sacked
‘Aucamp doesn’t qualify for post’
The EFF in the City of Tshwane have ordered mayor Solly Msimanga to axe his chief of staff for misleading the metro about her qualifications.
Marietha Aucamp, who has been placed on special leave, was allegedly earning R1.2million per annum since the DA took over the metro in November 2016, but the EFF have established that she did not qualify for the position and wants her to account.
“We vehemently reject the decision by the executive mayor to place Ms Aucamp on special leave, we demand her immediate dismissal and that she pays back the salary that she has received from September 2016 until now,” said EFF Tshwane chairman Benjamin Disoloane.
“People must be hired based on their qualifications meeting the requirements. If they respond with arrogance, they will see our [EFF] arrogance,” Disoloane told Sowetan.
Yesterday, the EFF “stormed” into a mayoral committee meeting to call for the removal of Aucamp, which then prompted the acting city manager in consultation with Msimanga, to place her on special leave pending an investigation.
Although Selby Bokaba, the executive director for strategic communications in the city, admitted that Aucamp did not hold any qualifications, he said they still needed to verify facts surrounding her claim that she had a B-Tech.
“There was an oversight on the advert [for the position of chief of staff] and it should have specified that a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualifications and/or experience.
“The mayor had to appoint a person that he knows, trusts
and shares his political vision, and chief of staffs are political appointments,” said Bokaba.
“In her curriculum vitae, she states that her highest qualification is a matric certificate, which she obtained in 1995.
“It is now alleged that there’s a form which she filled, and under qualification she’s got a B-Tech [qualification] and that is where the issue is.”
Bokaba defended the interview panel and said they were not misled by Aucamp but instead, she misled the assessment process which was conducted by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs where she filled in writing that she had a higher
qualification.