Durban official’s hiring lands two in trouble

DURBAN: A handful of eThekwini DA councillors are seeking answers from executive committee representatives Zwakele Mncwango and Heinz de Boer for failing to check the background and credentials of new deputy city manager Simphiwe Duma.

This was after it emerged that Duma had been axed by his previous employer for serious misconduct.

Duma will head the city’s newly formed trading services cluster, which comprises Dur- ban solid waste, electricity and the water and sanitation units. The units account for about R22.3 billion of the city’s R39.1bn budget for the 2015/16 financial year.

Several DA councillors, who spoke to the Cape Times’s sister paper The Mercury on condition that their identities not be revealed, have expressed shock that Mncwango and, more particularly, De Boer did not pick up Duma’s tainted past.

Mncwango later queried Duma’s past after being alerted by a DA councillor dur- ing a council meeting on Thursday.

This was after Mncwango and De Boer had already approved the appointment in the committee meeting. The DA abstained from approving the appointment after the discrepancy was picked up.

One DA councillor said the two would have some questions to answer in the party’s next caucus meeting.

“They get paid a whole lot of money to be in the committee, but what do they do? How can he miss something like this?” the councillor said.

De Boer said he could not give details of the interviews as he was bound by a confidentiality clause. “It is quite clear that the ANC wants this guy… We as the DA sit in the panel and are outnumbered.”

Mncwango shot the criticism down, saying that the role of pre-screening of candidates rested with the city manager.

The Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa’s Paul Hoffman said “those involved in the process of hiring Duma failed to comply with their constitutional duty” and let down ratepayers.