Gauteng provincial government investigates Emfuleni’s high legal fees

Reports on the high legal fees that the Emfuleni Local Municipality has spent on fighting one employee has led to the Gauteng Provincial Government initiating an investigation.

Gauteng government intervenes

The Gauteng Department of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has given the municipality seven days to give reasons for the high legal fees that the municipality has reportedly spent on different cases.

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In a letter seen by The Citizen, the department has requested information on the number of legal cases involving employees, the budget costs for all legal cases and a plan on reducing the amount of money spent on legal cases.

The letter expressed concern about a specific case where the municipality allegedly spent R55m on lawyers in a court challenge against an employee who had taken the municipality to court over unfair labour practice.

Dispute involving Emfuleni employee

“Of concern is the newspaper article that appeared in The Citizen newspaper dated 08 April 2024 alleging that the municipality spent R55m on one litigation which the municipality refuted stating that these legal fees are representative of the municipalities legal spending over at least three years not on a single,” the document said.

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DA MPL Kingsol Chabalala welcomed investigations into Emfuleni’s high legal bill.

“The Gauteng MEC for Cogta, Mzi Khumalo, has finally succumbed to the DA’s pressure to urgently investigate why Emfuleni has spent so much money on labour dispute with one employee. This intervention is long overdue,” he said.

Chabalala said the DA would follow up on the investigation by the provincial government. He said the party would also ensure that every cent is paid back to ratepayers if the law firms benefited unduly.   

“We hope that this is not a box ticking exercise and that the MEC gets to the root of this issue. We will follow up with the issue to ensure that those implicated in this misuse of the municipality’s funds are held accountable,” said Chabalala.

The Citizen had approached the Emfuleni Local Municipality for comment. This story will be updated as soon as comment is received.

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