KwaDukuza Municipality appoints first female executive director
Pamela Mntaka arrives with a wealth of municipal experience, most recently serving as the executive director for Corporate Services in Alfred Duma Municipality.
KwaDukuza Municipality (KDM) has welcomed its first female executive director, Pamela Mntaka, who was appointed last week.
Mntaka is taking over the Corporate Services department from previous director Sithembiso Kubheka and will be tasked with managing the municipality’s human resources.
It is a crucial job, given KDM’s high levels of vacancies across multiple departments which have been repeatedly flagged by internal and external audits.
Even at the executive director level (ED), of which there are eight in KwaDukuza, there remains a vacancy in Civil Engineering since the resignation of Muzi Sithole earlier this year.
The filling of the deputy-mayor role since the sudden death of Thulani Ntuli has been equally drawn out as political parties and individual councillors vie for the position.
It should be noted that the deputy-mayor appointment is at council’s discretion, not the municipal administration.
Nevertheless, new appointments will be top of the agenda in Mntaka’s first year in office, to ensure KDM runs at its full public service capacity.
KDM mayor Lindile Nhaca pledged to promote gender equality in municipal administration and the appointment matches that vision.
“It is the fulfilment of our peoples’ aspirations as we continue to uphold the principles of non-racialism, non-sexism, and democracy whilst honouring the Employment Equity Act.
“We are therefore excited and more committed to equal access to opportunities for economic participation and decision-making regardless of gender,” said Nhaca.
Mntaka arrives with a wealth of municipal experience, most recently serving as the ED for Corporate Services in Alfred Duma Municipality, where she had previously acted as ED for Development, Planning and Human Settlements.
She has also worked for the Department of Land Affairs and as a candidate attorney at the University of Natal Law Clinic, where she specialised in land reform.
Mntaka has a masters degree in commerce and is currently working on a masters in public administration.
Aside from human resources, her role includes the management of municipal property, records, IT infrastructure and oversight of council’s administrative functions. She will report directly to the municipal manager.
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