Party turf wars get rap for Joburg road woes
● City of Johannesburg MMCs are at loggerheads over turf wars and accusations of meddling in financial decisions.
MMC for transport Kenny Kunene has accused finance MMC Dada Morero of meddling in his department, allegedly holding secret meetings with officials to instruct them on which service providers to pay or not pay, and threatening to withhold budgets of departments that are not under the ANC.
Kunene and Morero are MMCs from the PA and the ANC, respectively, under a coalition agreement that also involves the EFF and other minority parties.
Kunene in September filed a complaint with the city’s speaker and mayor against Morero, calling for an investigation into his ethical conduct.
In the complaint Kunene accuses Morero of underhand dealings and threatening officials in an attempt to constrain budget allocations to entities and departments under the PA, which include human settlements.
Kunene alleged that Morero instructed the city’s group CFO Tebogo Moraka to call a meeting and invite Metropolitan Trading Company (MTC) acting CEO Tshepo Makola and CFO Rajen Chetty.
Chetty confirmed to the Sunday Times that such a meeting took place, but said he was not at liberty to share details as he understood the matter was being investigated.
In the scathing letter, Kunene says the officials were given strict instructions on which service providers should be paid and which should not, and threatened that if they refused to comply the allocation of funds to MTC would be withheld, resulting in the inability of the entity to make any payments at all.
Kunene details an alleged instruction to Moraka to not channel funds to departments and entities falling under the PA — transport and human settlements.
In the complaint, which the Sunday Times has seen, Kunene alleges Morero “instructed” ANC councillor Sihle Nguse to orchestrate a meeting between Kunene’s executive director, Dorothy Mabuza, and Morero.
Nguse admitted that he relayed the message but said he played no part in ensuring that the meeting took place.
“I was at councillor’s forum when I approached Mabuza, it was during a tea break or something. I merely informed her that Morero wanted to see her,” he said.
Nguse said he forgot to share the contacts and was sure the meeting between the pair did not take place because Morero said he did not eventually meet Mabuza.
Mabuza said she did not want to comment as she was no longer in the employ of the city and understood that this was a sensitive matter under investigation.
Former speaker Colleen Makhubele, who presided over the matter before her axing, explained that when a complaint was made the accused and the complainant were contacted in writing, acknowledging the complaint and affording the accused an opportunity to respond.
“Sending someone to ethics is a serious thing, it must not be an individual decision, you need the facts and claims interpreted and looked into. You can be taken to court if not done properly and that is the process we took.”
Makhubele asked the city manager to appoint a legal firm for an independent probe into the complaint.
The firm, Mothle Jooma Sabdia Inc, in a leaked report seen by the Sunday Times, said: “In our view, the complaint by Cllr Kunene raises matters that are of importance and are not technical or trivial in nature. The complaint therefore involves a matter of contempt, as contemplated by rule 152. Given that the matter involves contempt and that the allegations are serious in nature, the speaker should refer the matter for further investigation by the ethics and disciplinary committee.”
Morero disputed that he received any response to a letter he penned in accordance with the rules of council.
“On my side I, therefore, do not have a comment on the matter, however, we will monitor the article and refer the matter to the speaker of council, who still has to respond to the letters written to her office in October 2023,” he said.
“Thanks for alerting me that the speaker’s office is confirming that they shared that legal opinion with my office. Our records will show that we have not received such and, therefore, I will not engage any further on the matter.”
Incumbent speaker Margaret Arnolds said delays in referring the matter to the ethics committee were due to her not receiving a handover from her predecessor.
“The previous speaker did not do a handover, I came and had to scurry around. I had a whole lot of issues to deal with.”
Arnolds confirmed that the matter has been communicated with the political party whips involved.
ANC regional secretary Sasabona Manganye did not respond to requests for comment.
Kunene, however, is up in arms regarding the lack of action over a complaint he raised months ago, saying that he continues to suffer the same mistreatment.
“It has been worrying me that this matter has not been dealt with. I even raised it with the political management committee in February. He continues to throttle MTC and all the departments that fall under the PA’s care, including Joburg roads agency.
“What he does not realise is that playing politics with the residents’ revenue is not harming me, but is affecting service delivery. I can’t fix potholes, rebuild roads, nor can I resurface them and I can’t provide free Wi-Fi in the city because the man is holding money.
“Even the money from provincial and national grants he withholds and only pays when he is under pressure.”