MEC probes ex-makana Director’s appointment
The MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in the Eastern Cape is investigating former Makana Corporate Affairs Director Nomthandazo Mazwayi ‘s appointment as Municipal Manager of Sakhisizwe Municipality. Mazwayi resigned from her position at Makana Municipality soon after a report to Council recommended she be placed on compulsory leave pending a disciplinary enquiry. She left earlier this month to take up her new position.
Earlier this month, Grocott’s Mail reported on Mazwayi’s surprise resignation, soon after Makana Municipal Manager Moppo Mene tabled a confidential report to a Council meeting. This was on 8 August. By 2 October, sources at Sakhisizwe Municipality, confirmed Mazwayi was “around”. Sakhisizwe’s administration centres are Cala and Eliot,
Mazwayi confirmed her resignation to Grocott’s Mail, but declined to say where she was going.
Mene said he was supposed to have made a follow-up report at the next Council meeting; however, Mazwayi had resigned in between meetings.
Spokesperson for Cogta in the Eastern Cape Mamkeli Ngam confirmed that the appointment is under investigation.
“We can confirm that the MEC has written to the Mayor of Sakhisizwe local municipality requesting a report on the appointment of the Municipal Manager,” Ngam told Grocott’s Mail. ”The Mayor has since submitted a report to this effect and is under consideration by our department.”
Meanwhile, the Cala University Students Association (Calusa) represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University in May this year requested the Premier and the Cogta MEC to intervene in the municipality by invoking Section 139(1)(c) of the Constitution by dissolving the Council and appointing an interim administration.
Similar to the Unemployed People’s Movement’s successful application to dissolve Makana earlier this year, they cited a crisis within the Municipality, “emanating from maladministration and financial mismanagement and resulting in inter alia sustained poor service delivery”.
A month later, the Premier replied, saying the Provincial government had instead invoked Section 154, seconding a seasoned departmental official from Cogta EC to implement a turnaround plan.
In a letter published on their website dated 9 September, Calusa challenged the Premier, saying there had been no improvement in the running of the municipality. They said the Municipality remained in serious breach of its obligations to provide basic services as a result of a crisis in its financial affairs.
“In the circumstances, we are instructed to request that the national executive intervene in the Municipality in terms of section 139(7) read with 139(5)(b) of the Constitution, by dissolving the Municipal Council and appointing an interim administrator to assume its functions,” the CALS lawyers write.
Among other points, they asked that any administrator be empowered to take action against any municipal officials who are not supporting the intervention, or who have failed to perform their constitutional and legislative duties, or are implicated in financial misconduct.
According to Calusa, since protests by residents in July 2018, the Municipality has experienced both political and administrative instability. Service delivery disruptions had resulted in raw sewage flowing through the streets of the towns of Cala and Elliot, streets are in a state of disrepair and burst pipes not being repaired.
Municipal projects left unfinished included the paving of roads, the installation of a sanitation plant, the construction of a sports field in Elliot, and the reticulation of the sewerage line. Various allegations of misappropriation of funds had been levelled against the former Municipal Manager, who remained on suspension until 28 January 2020.
According to Calusa’s documents, Sakihisizwe’s (former) Mayor and Municipal Manager were suspended in November 2018. A vacancy announcement for the position of Municipal Manager was published in mid-2020.
Investigations in Makana
Back in Makana, a query about the status of police investigations into various cases of alleged financial misconduct against Makana’s former Infrastructure Director Dali Mlenzana had not yet been responded to by the time of publishing. The audit report for the municipality for 2018/19 issued on 24 January 2020, states, “The South African Police Service is investigating various cases of alleged financial misconduct against a former senior manager of the municipality. At the date of this report, the investigation was still in progress.”
Municipal Manager Moppo Mene has confirmed that the report refers to Mlenzana.
Among the allegations is that Mlenzana signed off on an alleged irregular salary increase for Mazwayi during one of several periods when he was acting municipal manager. Mlenzana was placed on precautionary suspension on 25 July 2018, pending an investigation into alleged financial and administrative irregularities. The Makana Council agreed to an out-ofcourt settlement with lawyers for Mlenzana, who is currently the Senior Manager: Engineering Services at Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality.