Uproar in Tshwane over appointment of ‘unqualified directors’

Tshwane executive mayor Steven Mokgalapa has been accused of appointing two unqualified directors in senior, highly paid positions.

According to an internal memo sent to the metro’s information technology department, the directors, whose names are known to The Citizen, both officially became director: youth development for the metro on June 10.

Internal sources claim they will each earn almost R1 million per annum, but barely met the requirements for the position, which was never advertised.

As youth development directors, the two, aged 27 and 24, are responsible for advising the mayoral committee on issues of youth development, but sources said they have no experience in dispatching such advice.

“What we do know is that both are former members of his [Mokgalapa’s] constituency management from Soshanguve and Winterveld. One is a second-year student of agriculture at the Tshwane University of Technology [TUT],” a source said.

This is the latest jobs uproar to hit the metro, with The Citizen revealing last year how Stefan de Villiers, a qualified fitness trainer and body-building champion, was executive head in the private office of then mayor Solly Msimanga, even though he did not qualify.

Last year, The Citizen also exposed the irregular appointment of Msimanga’s former chief of staff Marietha Aucamp, who resigned under a cloud over not meeting the basic qualifications for the job.

Mokgalapa yesterday confirmed the appointments but denied there was anything untoward about them. He also denied that the two were from his constituency management team.

Mokgalapa said one was from Ga-rankuwa and the other from the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) at the TUT Pretoria West campus.

“It’s not true. All false information. Both meet the requirement based on the political office policy and minimum requirements of the job. I made a targeted recruitment based on the policy approved in April,” he said.

Another source said: “We also know [the student] is a serial failure academically; more like a career student.

“How on earth can they advise the mayoral committee on youth development when they cannot develop themselves, despite such an opportunity?”

The ANC in Tshwane said it was aware of an intention to hire them but did not know the appointments had already been made.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.