Nqwazi accused of skulduggery
But ousted city boss denies Bay ANC chief whip’s claim made in report to Magashule
Ousted acting city manager Noxolo Nqwazi refused to pay accounting firm PwC while she was in the position, allegedly in an effort to ensure two forensic reports never saw the light of day.
The startling claim was made by acting ANC chief whip Litho Suka in a confidential report sent to ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule on Wednesday explaining why ANC councillors defied provincial party bosses when they endorsed municipal housing delivery boss Mvuleni Mapu as acting city manager on Monday last week.
Nqwazi has vehemently denied the allegation and says she was expecting something like this.
Suka wrote in the report: “This action on her part is perceived as an attempt to arrest a transparent process of accountability of the municipality and in the process try to protect other people who may be implicated.
“This view does not originate in the council only but has been echoed by two PwC forensic reports, of which the final reports have not been published due to her alleged refusal to pay the final fees to the auditors.”
He did not, however, say what the reports were about.
“There is an undertone that the defence by some within the ranks of the movement of Nqwazi is a political shield for her not to be answerable to the allegations levelled against [her],” Suka wrote.
Yesterday, Nqwazi said she had not seen Suka’s report to the ANC and was not aware of the council wanting to charge her.
But she said she had expected the events now unfolding.
“As an employee of council, I am not above the law and if there is such a process I will comply.
“I am not sure whether the acting chief whip is aware of administrative processes to matters of this nature and as guided by the MFMA [municipal finance management act].
“Nevertheless, the municipality can only pay for work done and therefore [it] would be highly irregular to pay for a report that has not been submitted to the municipality.
“Secondly, all other processes regarding the same are dealt with by the forensic unit and only after these processes have been concluded in a report the forensic unit recommends to the city manager’s office to make payment,” Nqwazi said.
During last Monday’s council meeting, EFF regional chair Amandlangawethu Madaka also tabled a motion on the PwC reports and council resolved that Nqwazi be given seven days to respond.
Suka said the National Treasury had also questioned the state of the forensic reports.
His accusation is the latest evidence of power struggles in the ANC caucus as the party members gear up for the upcoming regional conference.
Shortly after her removal as acting city manager, ANC Eastern Cape bosses instructed the party’s Bay caucus to oppose Nqwazi’s removal.
According to ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi, the decision by acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye to replace Nqwazi with Mapu was illegal.
However, the instruction was ignored and at the last council meeting 31 councillors voted in favour of Mapu taking up the acting post, while 22 voted against it.
Suka also claimed in his report that Nqwazi had hiked her salary as director of sports, arts and culture and those of Anele Qaba (economic development), Walter Shaidi (infrastructure and engineering) and Selwyn Thys (CFO).
He said the four officials were given five-year contracts with a remuneration package valued at R1.8m.
“It is alleged that when Nqwazi was acting city manager she unilaterally and fraudulently increased her salary, [along with] Qaba, Shaidi, and Thys, to R2.2m, which was never tabled to any council meeting or subcommittee.”
Suka said it had been agreed at the council meeting that Nqwazi be charged and allowed to respond.
On the salary increases, Nqwazi said the council had previously resolved that once an appointment was made by the council for Section 56/57 managers, the issue of salary negotiations would be attended to and resolved by the mayor.
“This process was followed and reports tabled to the acting executive mayor for his approval, which was provided and a resolution issued.
“So there is nothing unto
ward about the process,” she said. On the acting city manager position, Suka said Buyeye had first offered the role to COO Mandla George and then Qaba — but both had declined.
“Mapu gracefully agreed to the nomination,” he said.
“The above process happened concurrently with the expiry of Nqwazi’s tenure, whose acting position was extended by the council on February 28 for a further three months.”
Mapu was appointed on June 12 by Buyeye, with the council endorsing his decision on Monday last week.
“After these events [Mapu’s appointment on June 12], the ANC engaged both the office of the chief whip and the office of the speaker to engage with [Buyeye] to reverse the appointment of Mapu,” Suka said.
“In his response, [Buyeye] said it was within his oversight responsibilities to appoint the city manager until the next council meeting ratified that decision.” He wrote further that Buyeye insisted Nqwazi had agreed with the decision.
Suka said during a virtual ANC caucus meeting on June 28 — attended by ANC provincial executive member Thabo Matiwane and regional co-ordinator Luyolo Nqakula — the position of the acting city manager and the integrated development plan (IDP) and the budget for 2020/2021 had come up.
“Matiwane and Nqakula jointly advocated for the postponement of the adoption of the budget for seven days.
“They also held a view that the appointment of Mapu must be reversed and Nqwazi be reinstated as acting city manager,” he said.
“The majority view of the caucus proposed that the budget must be adopted in the council.
“The caucus was unanimous in the appointment of the acting city manager but differed on the name of the candidate.”
Suka said councillors insisted on adopting the budget due to letters from the National Treasury and finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko threatening that equitable shares and grants would be withheld if the IDP and budget were not passed.
“It was then a matter of choosing between the law and the instruction of the regional co-ordinator, and the outcome spells that the councillors of the ANC are law-abiding.”
A joint report — issued on July 2, by the regional task team and the provincial executive committee (PEC) deployees on the council meeting of June 29 confirmed that an ANC caucus meeting held the day before had resolved to postpone passing the budget by seven days, but that, on the Monday, the regional task team (RTT) had instructed Suka, Mafaya and the ANC councillors to pass the budget.
“With regard to non-adoption and keeping abeyance of the budget, it was brought to light that due to the letters which had been written to the municipality by the provincial Cogta and the Treasury, the seven-day window in essence was not practical and keeping it at abeyance would not be feasible.
“As such, there was a relooking into the matters among the RTT co-ordinator, PEC deployees in consultation with the provincial secretary,” the report said.
Suka and ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe did not respond to requests for comment.
PwC media relations senior manager Sanchia Temkin said: “We are unable to comment on this matter due to client confidentiality.
“The rules of our profession prohibit us from commenting on matters related to clients.”