DA says ANC is appointing City of Joburg managers without council’s approval

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has alleged that the African National Congress (ANC) is appointing senior managers to the City of Johannesburg’s core administration without approval from council.

In a statement on Monday, DA councillor Dalu Cele said the party expressed its concerned over the matter.

“Individuals are allowed to act in senior positions for months on end, conveniently avoiding council approval. The ANC is exploiting this situation to ensure that cadres are at the head of city departments,” he said.

Cele argued that senior managers must be appointed by council according to the local government legislation.

“This means that a proposed appointment must be submitted to council, voted on by all councillors from all political parties and only then if the vote passed, will a manager be appointed,” he added.

The councillor claimed that the ANC has been purposely avoiding to address the matter during council meetings.

“Each time the human resource items are placed on the council agenda, the items are not sufficiently debated or the ANC withdraws the items at the last minute.

“Since council meetings have been conducted virtually, the ANC has been using it as an excuse to avoid certain items on the agenda.

“When important votes are to be taken, meetings are either interrupted by unruly councillors or there is no quorum,” Cele said.

He further said that it was concerning how easy it was for senior managers to mismanage public funds amid corruption reports currently happening in the country.

“The senior managers are accounting officers of various departments that play a critical role in the administration of the City.

“Recent allegations of Covid-related tender corruption have once again put the spotlight on how easy it is for managers to misappropriate public funds.

“Apart from corruption we also have to deal with acting managers who are unqualified or incapable of performing their managerial duties.

“Acting arrangements are meant for exceptional circumstances, but it can never be the norm. Council delegated the authority to the city manager to appoint senior managers for a period not exceeding three months.

“For most of the acting positions the proverbial hourglass has run out,” the councillor added.

Cele continued to say that the DA appeals to the ANC to immediately start recruiting for all vacant positions.

“We further request that the proposed appointments be put before council as a matter of urgency.

“The DA has submitted written questions to the Group Corporate and Shared Services acting MMC, Mally Mokoena to answer on the status of recruitment and acting arrangements of senior managers in the city,” he said.

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