City manager Musa Mbhele appeared before Scopa last week.
Image: eThekwini Municipality
MEMBERS of the National Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa) grilled the eThekwini Municipality over allegations of favouritism in the treatment of some of its workers, including defending an employee accused of serious allegations of corruption.
The committee members pressed the city on two allegations: that it had changed a job description in order to appoint an employee who was not qualified for the post, and that the city had issued a statement defending one of its senior managers who has been under fire on social media, facing allegations that he is building a mansion in the rural areas with kickbacks from contractors. The city stated that the two staff members in question were unfairly targeted, largely by disgruntled former city employees.
The leaders of the eThekwini Metro appeared before Scopa last week, including City Manager Musa Mbhele, Mayor Cyril Xaba, and other top officials where they were engaged by the committee, which was made of members of Scopa and Cogta portfolio committees.
MKP Committee member Jeffrey Mtolo put forward the allegations: “I would like to know about Ms Noluthando Magewu, Head of DSW, and her qualifications when she was acting as the head of the unit. There are also allegations that she was not qualified when she acted in that position because, in terms of experience, the position needed eight years of experience, which she did not have.
“I have also been told that you wanted to put her in the position; you even changed the job description so that she would qualify...” The committee member expressed concern that the municipality had come to the defence of another senior employee who had been accused of collecting bribes from contractors.
“There is an allegation that he is building a double-storey house in the rural areas. I was shocked and disappointed that eThekwini issued a statement in his defence... “Is it the policy of the city to defend their employees when there are serious issues touching on their management getting kickbacks? One would expect that the city would investigate rather than just defend their employees,” said Mtolo.
The committee demanded that the city speak to the allegations, but Head of Legal in eThekwini, Malusi Mhlongo, stated that the appointment of Magewu is before the court; therefore, the matter is sub judice, and they are not in a position to discuss the facts surrounding that issue. However, the committee members refused to accept Mhlongo’s response and demanded that they be answered on the matter.
Mhlongo referred the matter to Mbhele to respond. “We did not do it. All that we have been accused of, we did not do anything wrong, and we did not breach any laws.” He said the city did not change the job description to suit Magewu, but that the staff regulations had changed around that particular time and stipulated the qualifications that must have an impact on the job description. “If the staff regulations say you need to have a qualification in the built environment and have a registration, definitely the job description will change to reflect that. Yes, it was changed.”
Mbhele stated that some of the allegations are coming from disgruntled former employees, and he asserted that the allegations against the senior manager are unfounded. “We do not even know if this is indeed his house,” he said. He suggested that the municipal statement defending the official against the allegations had been issued in error. He said the statement was issued on social media but was later retracted because the communication team lacked the necessary approval.
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