OR Tambo district mayor asks province to step in

Request for seconded administrator follows suspension of municipal manager in June amid allegations of serious financial irregularities

Mayor Thokozile Sokanyile has asked the provincial government to help her run the troubled OR Tambo district municipality.

Sokanyile wrote to co-operative governance & traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha, raising concerns about instability at the municipality and requesting him to intervene “in the municipal daily affairs on issues of governance and accountability”.

Nqatha’s spokesperson, Makhaya Komisa confirmed Sokanyile had requested a section 154 intervention.

This means the municipality will not be placed under administration but merely seconded an official who will act as its municipal manager.

On Wednesday, council is expected to get a legal opinion regarding the contract of suspended municipal manager Owen Hlazo and rescind the appointing of Fezekile Mphako as the acting accounting officer. Hlazo was suspended for allegedly authorising more than R168m in payments to companies — some of which had not even lifted a finger. The municipality also opened a criminal case against him. He has denied all allegations.

Rescinding Mphako’s appointment as acting municipal manager will pave the way for a Cogta official to take over — albeit also in an acting capacity. Just last week, ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi wrote to all ANC councillors and provincial executive deployees, the regional task team convener and the co-ordinator, instructing them to “implement the ANC mandate in relation to the matter of the acting municipal manager”.

The letter, dated September 9, instructed the ANC caucus to implement the item at “the immediate available opportunity”.

Ngcukayitobi warned: “Failure to implement organisational decisions by the OR Tambo DM caucus may have to be regarded as nothing less than defiance.”

In a letter to the chair of the rules committee, also dated September 9, Sokanyile wrote: “In relation to the rescindment of the resolution, the request is made on the basis that prior to taking a decision for the secondment of the acting municipal manager, it is necessary to rescind the acting capacity of Mr Mphako as the current acting municipal manager. As a person assigned to preside over the council you should be aware that taking a resolution on top of another is illegal.”

Sokanyile wrote that Nqatha had promised that the senior manager to be seconded to the municipality will “have technical support in the form of legal and human resources”.

“This additional technical support to the senior manager is an offer by the MEC based on his assessment and magnitude of support required.”

Sokanyile requested Nqatha’s intervention after her deputy, Robert Nogumla, submitted a report to council on June 17 purporting to be from her while she was in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.

The report led to Hlazo’s suspension over allegations of serious financial irregularities, including those of payments to service providers that had not done the work.

“When I asked the deputy executive mayor of this conduct, he said the report was prepared by the legislature administration. The involvement of an external official will guard those challenges and will bring stability among the management,” she wrote to Nqatha.

Nqatha’s spokesperson Makhaya Komisa confirmed the MEC would intervene in the troubled district authority.

“Officials have been seconded to acting in vacant director position or municipal manager position where there is [a] dispute between the municipal manager and council. For this support to be effective it must be received by the relevant council hence we have requested the mayor to request to take a council resolution requesting the support,” he said.

Sokanyile, Nogumla and council speaker Xolile Nkompela could not be reached for comment by print deadline on Tuesday.