Mayor calls special council meeting after sacking blunder

THE controversy over the sacking of eThekwini’s City Manager just weeks before his contract expired by Mayor Zandile Gumede, has resulted in heated debate among opposition parties in the council chamber.

In a media statement this week, the DA’s KZN leader, Zwakele Mncwango said it had been reliably learnt that eThekwini city manager Sbu Sithole was sacked by Mayor Gumede unlawfully, after he allegedly blocked ANC cadre deployment into several eThekwini positions.

According to Mncwango, the DA believes that Sithole is the latest victim of ANC bullying. He said the ANC would stop at nothing to insert its cadres into government jobs.

Mncwango said ANC regional secretary, Bheki Ntuli, recently released an internal ANC communication asking branches to submit names of loyal members for positions in eThekwini.

“The deadline of 30 December requires branches to send through the names of candidates, who will then apparently get the jobs. This is a gross and disgraceful undermining of employment practices, and it shows that the ANC will break the rules to dispense patronage. We believe the city manager was the last bulwark against this ANC programme, and therefore Mayor Gumede had to sack him,” said Mncwango.

As a result, he said a week after her decision to sack Sithole, Gumede had realised that her action was illegal and she had called a special council meeting for this week to try and rectify her mistake.

ANC regional secretary, Bheki Ntuli released a statement to the media yesterday (Tuesday, 20 December), saying the ANC in the eThekwini appreciated all the work the city manager had done for the city as a seasoned administrator who had made a tremendous contribution in the local government space.

“We are however perturbed by his recent utterances in the media. We were anticipating more cooperation between the Office of the City Manager and that of the Mayor which sadly has not happened. This week the Municipal Council will seat to consider this issue and resolve it,” said Ntuli.

“It is alarming that the Mayor has attempted this scheme during Council recess. The DA will oppose this act by the Mayor at the special council, and the DA will fight for the rights of all residents of eThekwini to apply for jobs in the city,”said Mncwango.