Ngwathe management crisis heading for disaster
Since March this year the Ngwathe Municipality had been plunged in a management crisis with it's municipal manager, Me Nonhlanhla Baleni who resigned with a 24 hour notice only 5 months after she had been appointed in the position. The position of the municipality's director of corporate services, chief financial officer and director community services are also vacant.
At a special council meeting on Monday 22 May, Ngwathe’s Director Technical Services, Mr Malunga, has been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into dereliction of duty. He was given 7 days to submit reasons as to why the temporarily suspension should not go ahead.
The complaints against him relates among others to the lack of discipline in his department, and failure to hand in requested reports on disciplinary steps taken against managers in his department which also involves a report on constant service delivery failures relating to the supply of potable drinking water.
Council will now have to appoint an acting director in the technical department pending the outcome of the investigation. If an impartial investigator found that the director technical services should be charged, a disciplinary hearing will follow. within the next 3 months.
Non-performance on capital projects also forced Council in May 2022 to take drastic action with a decision to temporarily suspend Mr Malunga, also then giving him 7 days to respond on the temporarily suspension.
Since March this year the Ngwathe Municipality had been plunged in a management crisis with it’s municipal manager, Me Nonhlanhla Baleni who resigned with a 24 hour notice only 5 months after she had been appointed in the position. Since then Mr T Ngese was seconded by the Free State Province as acting municipal manager till the end of June to allow the municipality to advertisie the position and follow the correct procedure in appointing a new municipal manager.
The position of the municipality’s director of corporate services, chief financial officer and director community services are also vacant. and will have to be re-advertsied as efforts to find suitable candidates up until now have been unsuccessful.
