Clerk in hot water over mayoral chains
● Official accused of withholding key to safe and not disclosing where R3m civic regalia is
A clerk in Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Gary van Niekerk’s office faces suspension after allegedly refusing to hand over the key to a municipal safe and failing to disclose where the mayoral chains, worth more than R3m, are being kept.
Giovanne Joseph, who was acting director in the mayor’s office until June 2023, was served with a letter informing him of the intention to suspend on Tuesday.
He was told to vacate the office while an investigation takes place, and he was instructed to leave his laptop and a municipal cellphone.
The letter was signed by Lisel Daniels, an executive secretary in the mayor’s office, who was appointed to act as director on January 10.
Joseph is accused of insubordination, misallocating funds and taking leave without permission.
He declined to comment when contacted.
Van Niekerk, when contacted, said: “The matter is now with human resources and I do not want to interfere with the proceedings.”
SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) regional secretary Melikhaya Kortjan, meanwhile, wrote to Daniels on Wednesday, saying though the title of the letter stated there was an intention to suspend him, Joseph had effectively been suspended.
This, he said, violated clause 16.6 of the disciplinary procedure collective agreement.
The clause states: “Prior to such suspension the municipal manager or his authorised representative shall consider the written submission by the employee or his representative and make a final determination regarding the suspension of the employee.”
“Our member denies all these allegations as baseless and will await substantive evidence that will support the employer’s allegation[s].
“We pray that Joseph [is] not to be suspended [and] whatever investigation is to be done should be done with Joseph at work,” Kortjan wrote.
In Daniels’ letter to Joseph, she said he allegedly violated the employee code of conduct, which stipulates: “Employees should obey all lawful and reasonable instructions given by a person having the authority to do so.”
This occurred on November 1 2023, when he allegedly failed to comply with instructions from then acting director Hope Peters and mayoral chief of staff Vasu Padayachi to surrender the keys to the safe.
The former mayoral chains for Walmer, Despatch, Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth were stored in the safe, as was a memorial book that details Princess Elizabeth’s visit to the city in 1947.
Joseph is accused of disregarding instructions from Peters and Padayachi by not disclosing where the mayoral chains are.
In addition, he is accused of not adhering to instructions from Peters and Padayachi to provide crucial information to another staff member.
It is unclear what crucial information he was instructed to provide.
Joseph also has to respond to claims that he failed to abide by the code of conduct, which mandates that “employees should request permission in advance for any leave of absence whenever possible”.
This alleged breach occurred between June 1 last year to the present, when he took leave without obtaining permission, according to the letter.
Daniels said he had demonstrated a lack of honesty and integrity, as per the code of conduct, by allocating funds without obtaining permission from Peters, specifically for the SA Navy event suppliers.
Joseph also allegedly violated the code of conduct by procuring services from providers without the necessary order number, particularly for the SA Navy event.
The SA Navy docked in Gqeberha waters to commemorate World Hydrography Day in June, initiated by the International Hydrography Organisation (IHO) in 1921 to raise awareness about hydrography in the maritime industry.
Daniels referred all ques
tions to municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron, who directed all queries to Padayachi.
Padayachi said the veracity of the accusations against Joseph would be determined by a disciplinary board.
“After Joseph was suspended, we asked him for various keys for various rooms including the keys to the safe.
“I still have not received the key as the chief of staff and neither has Daniels.
“All I can say is that serious allegations have been made against Joseph and their veracity will be determined by the disciplinary board.”
Padayachi said Joseph was acting as director until June 2023.
The director post, which is an administrative position, has been vacant since 2021.
“You [an acting director] get appointed for three months as acting director,” Padayachi said.
“When the mayor came in, he chose to appoint someone else in the position of acting director which was Hope Peters.
“When her term came to an end, we appointed Daniels as acting director.”