Ex-Free State official charged for bogus qualifications lands CFO job in Gauteng

The former Nketoana Municipality official Xolani Malindi who was arrested two years ago for submitting fake qualifications, has landed another CFO post at Gauteng’s Rand West City Municipality.

Malindi, a former CFO at Nketoana, took up the post last December after the resignation of his predecessor.

The Free State Hawks arrested him in 2022 after he submitted bogus qualifications in an application for a Nketoana city manager post.

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The fraudulent qualification was discovered during a shortlisting process and was reported to the police, Hawks said at the time.

‘I was acquitted’

After his arrest, the case was transferred to the Bethlehem Magistrate’s Court where Malindi stood trial in 2023.

The owner of the bogus college was also charged for issuing a fraudulent academic certificate.

On Wednesday Malindi told The Citizen that the court acquitted him on all charges last year.

“I can’t comment much except to say that the court cleared me of those charges.

“I applied to Rand West City and submitted my qualifications, including the court documents showing I was acquitted.

“Everyone here including the municipal manager gave me a warm welcome, my qualifications are fine. I look forward to working together with the people of this city,” he said.

On his LinkedIn profile, Malindi writes that he has a degree in Accountancy (sic) from the University of Johannesburg completed in 2011.

He also obtained a certificate in Municipal Management Financial Programme in 2020 from Kgolo Institute.

“I then also completed my post-graduate Diploma in Business Management with the Regeneseys Business School in 2022 of which I have recently applied for my Masters in Public Administration at the same institution to begin my studies in 2023 (sic),” reads his profile.

‘He has a bad record’

But Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader at Rand West City Balderic Dreyer said Malindi’s track record at the ailing Nketoana, including corruption allegations, has rendered him unfit for the CFO post.

“Malindi’s name is well known to civil society and the South African court system alike. He was caught lying about his qualifications.

“He was the CFO in a municipality that is widely reported to have been rife with corruption allegations and collapsed services,” he said.

Nketoana’s terrible state

The Reitz-headquartered municipality’s cash problems surfaced two years ago when it failed to pay workers’ salaries.

Apart from service providers and salaries, Nketoana owes R637 million to the power utility Eskom.

READ MORE: ‘We depend on loan sharks’ − Municipal workers go months without salaries, medical aid

The Auditor-General has been issuing a disclaimer opinion to Nketoana for the past seven years.

A disclaimer is the worst audit opinion.

Dreyer added that under Malindi’s watch, Nketoana built a R15 million stadium that was never completed and paid R695 000 for a new car while quotes were being sourced to repair the mayor’s luxury BMW.

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