Parliament wants Msunduzi Municipality Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla and Municipal Manager Felani Mndebele to explain their failure to take action against their senior manager, who faces serious allegations, including faking an employment letter.
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Msunduzi Municipality senior officials are under pressure from Parliament to explain why no action was taken against their senior colleague for attempting to scam the council into increasing her salary and for being re-employed without an advertised post.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) spent about an hour on Wednesday probing Municipal Manager (MM) Felani Mndebele and Chief Financial Officer Nelisiwe Ngcobo about their handling of allegations against Water and Sanitation acting manager, Fathima Mota, who was rehired shortly after she had resigned from the same position.
Mota’s matter is among the issues that gave Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla, Mndebele, and Ngcobo a difficult time, as they were struggling to provide answers.
MP Kwenzokuhle Madlala sparked the fire by questioning how Mota was re-employed after she had resigned to join the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Department.
When contacted for comment, Mota referred questions to the municipality's communication department.
Mndebele said he is currently undertaking a fact-finding process to gather and verify all relevant information relating to the matters raised by SCOPA.
“As these issues touch on confidential employer-employee matters, the municipality will refrain from commenting further at this stage,” he said.
Madlala also wanted to know what actions were taken on the allegations that Mota had, upon her re-employment, fraudulently attempted to get a salary increase by requesting a salary counteroffer by submitting a fake letter indicating that she had been offered a position by the City of Cape Town Municipality without providing supporting documents.
The city concurred with Madlala that Mota, while she was the Water and Sanitation manager, had, in May 2025, resigned from the municipality after being employed by CoGTA, and then resigned from CoGTA on June 20, 2025, to sign a new contract with the municipality on June 23, 2025
“I am more interested in a part where a person leaves and works somewhere for a month or two and then comes back and signs a contract, which I find very alien,” said Madlala.
Madlala alleged that Mota submitted Cape Town’s fake letter in August 2025, hoping to get a counteroffer, which would have increased her salary.
Mndebele attempted to excuse himself from being held accountable, failing to handle Mota’s matter accordingly, while Ngcobo stated that there was an investigation.
“The story of Fathima Mota happened before my time, as I was appointed on August 1, 2025, and I also heard it through the grapevine. I won’t be able to assist,” Mndebele said before referring questions to Ngcobo, who was an acting municipal manager at the time Mota resigned and was re-employed.
However, Mndebele said Mota’s request for a counteroffer was brought to his desk when he was “one or two months in office”, and he repudiated it.
“I did not approve of it.
“The DMM (Deputy Municipal Manager) responsible for infrastructure proposed that we counteroffer her. I indicated that I did not approve, and I said if the person wants to leave, we will fill the post,” Mndebele said.
Instead of giving answers on the spot, Ngcobo requested to submit a written response.
On suspension, the municipality officials were concerned that whatever they said in Parliament would be used against them.
SCOPA Chairperson Songezo Zibi, who wanted answers, assured them that they were covered by parliamentary indemnity contained in the Powers Act.
Mndebele said under normal circumstances, the municipality should meticulously follow recruitment and selection processes in filling posts.
“If we were to be allowed time to interrogate and respond, we will respond within 14 days,” said Mndebele.
This led to Zibi concluding that Mota’s re-employment was a breach of recruitment policies.
“What is the scope of the investigation that you referred to? What is being investigated, what are the terms of reference in broadly speaking? Who commissioned the investigation?
“I don’t know why this is difficult because somebody spoke of an investigation,” Zibi probed.
Ngcobo tried to explain by saying the matter surrounding Mota’s resignation and return is in the public domain as it is being circulated in Pietermaritzburg.
“That she had another appointment in Cape Town, of which there is a fraud involved, it was on Facebook.
“My assumption, when I saw legal involvement in this matter, I thought there was an investigation, and I thought MM was going to comment on that investigation,” said Ngcobo.
When Zibi insisted on finding out whether there is an investigation, Mndbele said: “I don’t have any knowledge of the investigation around this matter.”
Zibi said ordinarily after Mota’s resignation, the municipality should have advertised the vacant post, for her to re-apply.
“It would appear to me that this is the first thing that gets investigated in any event, because if you had told me that in certain instances there is a procedure we use to get somebody back to solve a problem, but clearly that is not the case.
“There is an allegation that the person (Mota) manufactured an offer from the City of Cape Town to get a salary increase, and what I am hearing is that there is also no investigation that the MM knows about. The matter is in the public domain, but it is not under investigation,” said Zibi.
Another MP, David Skosana, asked Zibi not to omit a contradiction between the city’s officials, as Ngcobo had earlier said the matter was sub judice as it was being investigated, while Mndebele distanced himself from it.
Zibi demanded that Ngcobo and Mndelebe come up with clear answers within seven days because “the person was re-hired outside of procedure and there is an allegation of a bogus offer, and you know this person’s line manager”.
“MM, you said you declined to authorise that (counteroffer request), you know that there was an offer. Can we get to the bottom of this, talk to the line manager to establish what happened, and send us a report?
“The question is why nobody thought this should be investigated, given that these are facts that emerged,” said Zibi.
bongani.hans@inl.co.za