Court ruling has Municipal Manager back in office

Lolo Madonsela

After months on paid suspension, Municipal Manager, Bonga Ntanzi was reinstated at AbaQulusi Local Municipality last week.
Ntanzi was suspended after allegations of corruption surfaced last year.
When municipal leadership decided to bring Ntanzi back to work, despite the pending allegations, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) obtained an interdict to overthrow the decision, stating it was in violation of the conditions of his suspension.
Last week however, the court found municipal heads were within their right to request Ntanzi to return to work.
Speaker of the AbaQulusi Council, Michael Khumalo confirmed Ntanzi had resumed his duties with immediate effect.
“It is true he is back at work; he is in his office as we speak and the acting Municipal Manager [Sabatha Shongwe] had to evacuate the office with immediate effect. When he [Ntanzi] was suspended, we wrote to him asking him to get back to work and CoGTA went to court to get an interdict on the matter. Yesterday, the court found the Speaker and Mayor were right to request the MM to return to work,” explained Khumalo.
He further questioned the decision to have Ntanzi suspended in the first place.
“If CoGTA wants to appeal the court’s decision, we will welcome that but until then, the Municipal Manager will continue with his duties.”

Also read: Financial woes continue in AbaQulusi

Khumalo expressed his satisfaction at Ntanzi’s return and said it would save the municipality a great deal of money.
While suspended, Ntanzi was still receiving his full salary as were his bodyguards, while acting Municipal Manager Shongwe was also receiving the same salary and had his hotel accommodation paid for.
“We are happy he [Ntanzi] is back. It was disturbing that the municipality was paying salaries for both the suspended and acting Municipal Managers, and this was hurting the municipality financially. Ntanzi’s return means things will go back to normal with the focus on what the municipality is tasked for; which is service delivery,” concluded Khumalo.
CoGTA was contacted last week for its official comment on Ntanzi’s reinstatement and if it would take the matter further.
At the time of going to print, no response was received.

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