Ngqushwa suspends municipal manager for third time

But Mpahlwa says latest letter is also unlawful

The Ngqushwa municipal council has, for the third time in two months, suspended municipal manager Misiwe Mpahlwa after repeatedly having to rescind its flawed former decisions to do so.

Mpahlwa has a growing heap of paperwork consisting of letters suspending her and letters rescinding her suspension — followed immediately by new letters of suspension.

Her repeated suspensions take place at a time when there are allegations that she has been resisting political interference in the supply chain management process at the municipality — specifically tenders for the building of seven community halls for more than R10m.

The comedy of errors began on March 10 with Mpahlwa’s first letter informing her she was suspended.

She was not, as required by law, given any opportunity to make representations on why she should not be suspended.

On March 16, the council met and rescinded its decision to suspend her.

At the same meeting, a decision was taken to instruct mayor Mnikelo Siwisa to serve Mpahlwa with a letter informing her of its intention to suspend her and giving her until March 26 to provide written reasons why she should not be suspended.

In that letter, dated March 17, she was asked to respond to two serious allegations of what it termed gross misconduct.

Mpahlwa was given until March 27 to provide reasons why she should not be suspended. On March 25, Mpahlwa sent Siwisa and others a detailed four-page letter setting out what she believed was the appropriate response to the allegations.

However, at a special virtual sitting of council on May 14, the council again decided to suspend her.

In a letter dated May 18, speaker Nombuyiselo Magingxa said Mpahlwa had failed to provide the council with written submissions on why she should not be suspended.

She was required to vacate her office and was prohibited from entering any municipal property.

Mpahlwa’s Makhanda lawyer, Mike van der Veen, immediately wrote to the council, warning that it had suspended her without her written submissions ever being tabled or considered.

The letter demanded that the council immediately rescind its decision and hinted at an ulterior motive at play.

Van der Veen said Mpahlwa believed the “baseless allegations” against her had been created with the sole intention of

“removing her from her position as she is perceived as an obstacle to certain tenders at the municipality being granted to certain companies”.

Magingxa on Monday responded to Van der Veen, confirming Mpahlwa’s written submissions had not been tabled at the May 14 meeting where the decision to suspend her was taken.

She says the reasons for this will form “the subject matter of a separate investigation”.

However, she says in the letter that the council considered Mpahlwa’s submissions at another sitting last Friday and was of the view that she had failed to provide proper reasons as to why she should not be suspended.

She had instead attempted to address the allegations that would be the subject of the disciplinary investigation.

Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Mpahlwa said she had every intention of challenging this suspension as well, as it constituted unfair labour practice.

In addition, she said, the letter was signed by the speaker, who had no authority to do so as this had to be done by the mayor.

“I report directly to the mayor and I’m accountable to the full council. These letters signed by the speaker are unlawful.”

Magingxa could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.

Interestingly, a tender for at least one of the seven community halls has been readvertised during Mpahlwa’s absence.

The invitation for the construction of Makhahlane Hall was readvertised in the Daily Dispatch last week with a closing date of June 15.