De Boer fights back over allegations
Ward councillor at the centre of a major city appointment speaks out.
UMHLANGA ward councillor and eThekwini executive committee representative, Heinz de Boer, yesterday defended himself following serious allegations leveled against him.
De Boer, according to media reports, failed to check the credentials of Simpiwe Duma, the former CEO of Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the man appointed as Durban’s new deputy city manager. Duma was interviewed by a panel that included De Boer. But it was Duma’s dismissal from TIA that De Boer failed to disclose to his DA caucus that landed him in the hot water.
“I was focused on another matter and just before the start of the council meeting I told the caucus that Duma made a declaration about his shady past. The DA voted against his appointment, but at that point we were outvoted by the ANC, ” De Boer said yesterday.
He added that while he was not passing the buck for failing to disclose Duma’s past to his colleagues, he felt that it was the responsibility of the city manager to do probity checks before the shortlisted CVs reached Exco. “There are no probity checks done before the interview process. People should be checked for a criminal record before any CVs are presented to Exco.
“There were one or two members of the DA caucus that were not happy that I did not disclose to them that Duma made the declaration about his past during his interview.
“I also did not pass on the information about Duma’s past until the council meeting had started as I had signed a confidentiality agreement. We then huddled together, spoke about it and then voted against it.”
But Duma was voted to be the new deputy city manager which would see him sit at the helm of the city’s trading services cluster, which is comprised of Durban Solid Waste, electricity, water and sanitation units.
He was axed from TIA for misconduct and maladministration, uncovered by a forensic investigation. According to its website, the agency’s objective is to ‘improve economic growth and the quality of life of all South Africans by developing and exploiting technological innovations’.
De Boer added that at the next Exco meeting to be held on Tuesday, the DA would be calling for Duma’s position to be re-advertised.
