CoGTA loses appeal against municipal manager

Lolo Madonsela

Municipal Manager (MM) Bonga Ntanzi has retained his position at AbaQulusi Local Municipality, following the recent High Court judgment that dismissed the application of ‘leave to appeal’ by the Provincial Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
The High Court ordered that the application be dismissed with costs (including the costs of Senior Council, where employed).
Ntanzi was placed under precautionary suspension on July 4, 2019, by then Administrator (Ministerial Representative) Elphas Dladla. Dladla further appointed an investigative company to conduct certain investigations at the municipality.
In November 2019, the investigative company gave recommendations that Ntanzi be subjected to a disciplinary hearing and charged with being dishonest in his job application; contravention of the Job Evaluation Policy; fraud with regards to the appointment of the legal services manager; contravention of disciplinary regulations for a senior manager; financial misconduct with regards to irregular salary offers; and gross misconduct with regards to approving the appointment of the tourism officer. On September 13, 2019, Ntanzi resumed his duties as MM, following a call from Acting Mayor Mncedisi Maphisa that instructed Ntanzi to return to work; at the time when both the intervention and the decision to suspend Ntanzi were still extant.
CoGTA took the matter back to court, claiming that Maphisa was wrong to reinstate Ntanzi. However, the court found that Maphisa and Speaker Michael Khumalo were well within their right to request Ntanzi to return to work in September.

Also read:CoGTA to appeal Ntanzi’s reinstatement

In March this year, Ntanzi won the case against him and resumed work with immediate effect. CoGTA then lodged a ‘leave to appeal’, which saw Ntanzi winning the case again. The High Court dismissed the application with costs. The findings by the High Court were that former Administrator Dladla was required to carry out his duties only in terms of the powers that were circumscribed in the notice of February 21, 2019, issued by the provincial executive, and no more. The court found that there was no single provision that permitted Dladla to suspend officials of the municipality and or to subject them to disciplinary proceedings.
Acting Mayor Mncedisi Maphisa has expressed his joy at the High Court’s outcome.
“I wish to state that we are overjoyed as a municipality, where the attempts to unjustly infiltrate and destabilize our municipality have failed; as the MM has won all the matters taken to court against him by CoGTA. We wish to state that we are fully aware of CoGTA’s attempts to derail our efforts towards providing service delivery for the community, and we hope and pray that they will give up on their witch-hunt, as the courts have proven them to be futile and a waste of state resources, as well as time. We will continue to work hand-in-hand and ensure effective service delivery at all times and at all costs,” said Maphisa.

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