‘Broke’ ex-mayor could be forced to pay back salary to City of Tshwane

City of Tshwane is considering whether to institute legal proceedings to recover the salary paid to former mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela when he was a councillor.

In a twist of events, Makwarela resigned as City of Tshwane mayor on Friday, just a day after reclaiming his position.

The former Tshwane council speaker has also vacated his position as a PR councillor for the Congress of the People (Cope).

‘No admission of guilt’

Makwarela tendered his resignation hours after the Chief Registrar of the High Court in Pretoria confirmed that it did not issue his insolvency clearance certificate.

The former mayor submitted a suspected fake certificate to city manager Johann Mettler on Thursday, stating that he had been granted insolvency rehabilitation in 2018.

He had been disqualified as a councillor on Tuesday, after it was revealed that he was declared insolvent in 2016. The insolvency meant he was prohibited from holding public office.

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Makwarela, in his resignation letter, said he had “instructed his lawyers” to deal with the matter.

“To protect the image of the office I occupy and the good name of the City, I have decided to remove myself from the position of mayor in the City of Tshwane.

“This is no form or admission of guilt on the prevailing public allegations, but a desire to let the City focus on service delivery and other critical business,” Makwarela said on Friday afternoon.

‘Legal advice’

Addressing the media in briefing on Friday, City of Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba acknowledged that the City’s image has “taken a hammering” from this whole saga.

“We cannot run away from that. All these things that have happened leading up to today’s situation point to instability in the institution and they have damaged the Tshwane brand,” he said.

Bokaba confirmed Mettler has already since informed the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of the PR councillor vacancy for Cope.

“Cope knows what to do, that they have 21 days to engage with the IEC and give the name of Dr Makwarela’s replacement,” he said.

While the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners have laid charges of fraud against Makwarela, Bokaba said the city manager was engaging with legal advisors on whether or not to go this route.

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“On Monday, we will be able to announce a way forward. But all the issues that we are raising are part of a package of issues that the city manager is considering based on the legal advice that we are going to receive.

“There are two issues here, the one issue is the disqualification of Dr Makwarela. [He] was not supposed to be a councillor on 6 November 2021,” he continued.

The City, Bokaba pointed out, was also considering claiming back salary payments made to Makwarela since he should not have stood for a council seat in the 2021 municipal elections.

“The second issue has to do with if we are going to claim all the money paid to Dr Makwarela when he was an ordinary councillor and when he was elected speaker on 20 January 2022. All those issues will form part of a bouquet of issues that the City is seized with legal services.”

Vetting process

Asked whether the City would tightened its vetting process of councillors before being elected, Bokaba explained that this responsibility laid with political parties and the IEC instead.

“This is a grey area and I think it’s important we put this on the record. When councillors are elected it is a process between the political party to which that councillor belongs to and the IEC. The City is not involved at all.

“It is the IEC that prepares the ballot. It is the IEC that gives councillors a form to complete and after it is completed the form doesn’t come to the City. The City only gets involved after the fact that the councillor had been elected into council. So we don’t have the wherewithal to verify the credentials of councillors,” he said.

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“I think this issue is not only pervasive to Tshwane because you have got 257 municipalities across the country so all of the municipalities would be impacted by this. [I doubt that all the municipalities would do the vetting themselves]… I don’t think they have that capacity.

“The issue of Dr Makwarela of course has opened us up to other avenues as to how do we prevent a recurrence of this matter. So certainly, it is something as the City will have to look into.”

The Tshwane spokesperson further revealed that the City was also considering to review the decisions taken by Makwarela when he was the speaker.

“The city manager and legal advisors are looking at the issues and the implications of this based on the decisions that Dr Makwarela would have taken including the appointment of the city manager because it was Dr Makwarela who presided over that.

“There are a lot of issues starting January 2022 [when Makwarela was elected Tshwane council Speaker], so legal advice will then provide us with a way forward.”

Service delivery

Bokaba added that the City was hoping to elect a new council speaker as well as mayor and pass the adjustment budget by the end of next week “so the City could return to stability”.

“For us to continue rendering services we need to pass the adjustment budget which was supposed to have been passed at the end of February, but that didn’t happen because we didn’t a mayor and the mayoral committee. So the city manager has engaged with National Treasury and asked for an extension which was granted until the end of March.

“We are hoping that all these processes will be concluded so that we can pass the adjustment budget. If we are unable to do so the services in Tshwane will grounds to a halt and the consequences is that we may even be placed under administration.”

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