Msunduzi hunting for new electricity boss

Amidst widespread dissatisfaction with electricity services from residents, Msunduzi Municipality has restarted the recruitment process for a general manager for electricity.

This, after a preferred candidate, Sabatha Nomnganga’s success in the initial recruitment process last year was not “blessed” by former Cogta MEC Sihle Zikalala despite Msunduzi mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla’s announcement in September that Nomnganga was the successful applicant for the position.

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The latest bout of recruitment is expected to be completed within 90 days “if everything goes according to plan”.

City manager Lulamile Mapholoba said the failure to get Zikalala’s approval for the appointment has led to the municipality instituting an investigation into how the initial process where Nomnganga was successful, was handled.

In fact I’m preparing an item to council because the period of the acting general manager is ending this month so I need to get somebody to act while we are pursuing the recruitment. My target [to appoint], if everything goes according to plan, is June and the latest should be July.
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Nomnganga was suspended by the city as general manager for infrastructure in 2017 and then dismissed in June 2018 in connection with allegations of financial irregularity.

He was later paid a settlement.

He was accused of costing the municipality more than R5 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure by allegedly paying service providers for work not done.

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Mapholoba said when a disciplinary hearing was constituted against Nomnganga, the finding was a dismissal but there was an appeal.

In the midst of the appeal there was a settlement but strangely enough when they settled the charges were not withdrawn. So both the dismissal and the settlement co-existed, which is not supposed to have been the case. If I settle with you, I withdraw all the charges. This is one of the issues the investigation will also focus on.

He said the investigation will probe individuals within the City to face the music for this bungle.

Having applied for the general manager for electricity position last year, Nomnganga was announced as the successful candidate by mayor Thebolla after a full council sitting early in September.

That appointment never received the approval of the then Cogta MEC Sihle Zikalala.

According to the Municipal Systems Act regulations, an employee who committed financial misconduct as contemplated in the Municipal Finance Management Act should not be employed back at the municipality for a period of up to 10 years.

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“The MEC did not concur [with the appointment] and therefore we went back to council and looked at the matter and felt that this process has taken a long time. It is muddied, and it must be restarted. Because there are issues that the MEC is raising, let there be an investigation that is undertaken to look at what exactly has happened in the whole process. Where were the weaknesses, the failures and what are the recommendations so that we don’t have a recurrence of this issue?

This is an embarrassment; it’s embarrassing council and it taints the reputation of the council. Obviously you also look at internal controls. Why was this name not listed when this happened? Who failed in his or her duty? I’m happy because council in its wisdom decided to abide by the decision of the MEC and to me that means a council that subscribes to the principles of good governance, not to forge ahead and be in conflict with the MEC. Most critically, electricity is one of our biggest challenges in the municipality so we’d like to have somebody who will hit the ground running.

Attempts to get comment from Thebolla were unsuccessful.

Cogta declined to comment on the matter.

Spokesperson Senzo Mzila said: “Cogta cannot divulge issues relating to labour relations. The municipality will be in a good space to respond on the question raised as it is an employer and employee matter”.

Nomnganga said he was “legally advised” not to make any comments as the matter is currently with his legal team.

IFP councillor Thinasonke Ntombela said, “He [Nomnganga] applied, got shortlisted, interviewed and was the preferred candidate. Even the ministerial representative in Msunduzi picked up these discrepancies but because the name was not sent to Cogta, the process went ahead. This is why we have all these problems in the city, I think it’s a lack of capacity because all the city’s troubles are created internally.”

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DA councillor Ross Strachan said this was the result of political interference and cadre deployment which has taken over in municipalities.

This should be an indicator that the leadership of this municipality do not care about fighting corruption or are willing to appoint someone who would be fit for purpose. The DA caucus challenged this appointment from the onset, through all possible avenues and managed to get a positive intervention. Those responsible for this irregular ‘attempted’ appointment, which has now caused delays in the process, must be held accountable.