DA fuming after Fees Must Fall activist appointed as Geoff Makhubo’s paralegal 

The appointment of Mcebo Dlamini to become a paralegal in Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo’s office has proven “cadre deployment is alive and well” in the city, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday. 

The party revealed that after investigations into the appointment of staff at the City of Joburg, it emerged that Dlamini was one of the “questionable” appointments of late.

The DA said the Fees Must Fall activist has a criminal record, “which prevents him from practicing law,” and said he is not a South African citizen. 

Dlamini, who was born in Swaziland, was found guilty of public violence in March, and sentenced to two and a half years, with a suspended sentence of five years.

The court battle was drawn out for four years in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, and Dlamini faced a host of charges in connection with the violent protests, which started in 2015.

Should he break the law at anytime within the next five years, Dlamini will have to go to prison. 

But the DA said the Department of Home Affairs had revoked his South African citizenship and ID number after he admitted to violating the Immigration Act. 

“The ANC clearly protects its own,” the party claimed. 

They said he was also given a bursary by the Gauteng education department, but “couldn’t provide valid reasons for the award.”

“Even when it was illegal to employ him as a public official, the ANC in Joburg still found a way.” 

The party’s shadow MMC of group corporate and shared services, councillor Dalu Cele, called on Makhubo to “account for how the City’s recruitment policies and bylaws were bypassed to allow Dlamini into a position which he does not qualify for”. 

Cele told The Citizen that most important information the party is seeking is how he was employed, especially in the office of the mayor, and who employed him. 

He said that taxpaying citizens deserve to know about Dlamini’s appointment. 

“With everything that hangs around Dlamini, we need to know where the City fits in now that he’s an employee. In this case, the mayor himself needs to answer that.” 

Cele also intends to request that a full investigation into Dlamini’s appointment be conducted by Group Forensic and Investigation Service. 

“Those in the City who violated the law must be fired for their shameless participation in illegal cadre deployment.”

The DA told The Citizen that Dlamini’s appointment is just one of many that have raised red flags for the party. There has been a significant increase in the number of irregular appointments since the ANC took over, the party said.

Cele revealed that reports indicate the “ballooning of appointments” within Makhubo’s office, as well as political appointments. 

City of Johannesburg mayoral communications director Mlimandlela Ndamase confirmed to The Citizen that “Mr Dlamini is an employee of the City, serving as a paralegal.”

Additional reporting by Kaunda Selisho

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