Mbaks’ ‘ghost worker’ brother
MANGAUNG METRO: MINISTER’S RELATIVE AMONG THOSE COSTING MILLIONS IN SALARIES
Jabu Mbalula is allegedly among the ghost staffers who apparently cost the Mangaung metro municipality millions in salaries every month, while never reporting for a single day of work. He is head of the speaker’s office although she claims to have never met him.
Speaker has never seen the purported head of her department.
An investigative report into illegal appointment of staffers in the Free State’s Mangaung metro municipality has allegedly exposed Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s older brother, Jabu Mbalula, as one of the “ghost staffers” who apparently cost the council millions in salaries every month, while never reporting for a single day of work.
Most of the ANC cadre deployments took place after the 2021 municipal elections, when individuals identified as “skeletal staff” were signed up, often without appointment letters or contracts, in violation of the Municipal Systems Act.
The ghost workers received a total of R2.5 million in salaries in January alone. For March alone, the salary bill shot up to R9 million as hired staffers increased from 125 to 190, the report showed.
The elder Mbalula is a former ambassador to Romania.
He is allegedly earning a salary while not reporting for work in speaker Stefani Lockman-Naidoo’s office, or signing an attendance register.
Just last month, his ministerial brother detailed how the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) unearthed 3 o00 ghost employees who were on the company’s payroll but never came to work.
Mbalula told MPs last month that Prasa became aware it was paying full salaries to ghost workers in December. The agency has since stopped the salary payments, after the recipients failed to show up during a verification process. Since then, according to the minister, no one at Prasa has come forward to complain they are not receiving their salary.
The Mangaung council recently authorised the appointment of an independent investigator, Matlho Attorneys, to probe allegations of misconduct against corporate services head David Nkaiseng in connection with unlawful staffing. This came after complaints from top officials about staff complements which were seemingly nonexistent although salaries were being paid.
During an interview with the investigators, Lockman-Naidoo said she was informed by Nkaiseng that Jabu Mbalula had been appointed as her head of department, although she had recommended Tonyana Selebedi for the position. “I have never met this person (Jabu Mbalula), yet he represented my office in a meeting two weeks ago.
“Nkaiseng, after I confronted him about this, informed me the executive mayor and the chief whip have their own [heads of departments] due to their work requirements.
“However, he later rejected his own argument and refused to process the appointment of Selebedi. I have never submitted the name of Jabu Mbalula.”
She presented a list of other eight “ghost employees” in her office. “Some of these employees were part of the previous administration, however, none of them report to my office at all, and I have never seen them,” Lockman-Naidoo said in the report.
She refused to comment when contacted for comment on the investigation, referring queries to the ANC interim regional committee and the metro.
According to another source, Jabu Mbalula was “appointed” in Lockman-Naidoo’s office without her knowledge, along with a number of others.
“He is known by name. No one has seen him at Bram Fischer Building. It remains a mystery as to what his job is in the speaker’s office, because he has never entered the building to work for what he is paid for,” said one official, who wouldn’t identify himself, as he is not allowed to speak to the media on council matters.
Seeing the worrying upsurge of staff, the then acting city manager, Mzingisi Nkungwana, who was removed from office earlier this month, alerted Lockman-Naidoo, mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana and chief whip Vumile Nikelo about national Treasury regulations on cutting down the number of officials in private offices.
Nkaiseng, who was suspended in March, roped in additional staffers without the knowledge of the political principals.
Mangaung has since been placed under the control of national government after several failed attempts by the province to run the corruption-plagued council. The metro’s human resources officials, interviewed as part of the investigation, said political appointees “existed on paper” and not according to rules in hiring practices.
Payroll manager Tshwaro Ledibane indicated to investigators authorisations requested for new appointments were never received from senior managers.
Other witnesses said although there had been no problems with political appointments before, things took a different turn after the local government elections.
An “overflow” of appointments took place, although they were never given the official green light.
“Most of the staffers were sent through to Mangaung by some in the interim [ANC] regional committee. The mayor’s chief of staff knows about the origin of these people. They do not have employment contracts, none of the them are supposed to be in the building,” said another source privy to matters in the region.
Nkaiseng told investigators only the city manager and his own office were entrusted with staff appointments. “He said the speaker prevented some of the officials from working because she had not approved their names.
“He insisted he was not privy to whether they reported for work or not, as that was the responsibility of the officials in the political offices,” the report said. – getrudem@citizen.co.za