Govan Mbeki Municipality pays R1,67m to ex municipal manager

The Govan Mbeki Municipality opted to pay Felani Mndebele R1,67m and end their costly legal battle against this former municipal manager.

The council lost its final battle in this expensive legal war when the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in September also found GMM’s dismissal of Mndebele procedurally and substantively unfair.

Council resolved to pay Mndebele during the council meeting held on Monday, October 30, although opposition parties such as the DA, EFF, ATM and IFP left the meeting when the mayor presented the item.

Councillors from these parties claimed the ANC councillors are responsible for the Mndebele debacle and that they should take from their own pockets to foot the bill instead of paying this money out of the public coffers.

The DA said the opposition parties were clear from the beginning, and also voted, against Mndebele’s suspension, disregarding the court ruling and the termination of employment.

“As opposition parties, we requested the recording of our votes against the decision to suspend and terminate Mndebele,” said James Masango, DA councillor.

“Now that Mndebele has won the case at the CCMA, the municipality is ordered to pay him, resulting in the payment of two municipal managers at the same time.

“The money that is supposed to be paid to Mndebele, must be paid by the individual ANC council members who supported all this,” said Masango.

The FF+ Cllr, Aranda Nel- Buidendag said R1,67m is a lot of money which could rather have been paid to Eskom and Rand Water.

“The former MM went to the CCMA because the ruling party terminated his contract.

The municipality lost the case again after previously losing in the high court,” said FF+ councillor Aranda Nel-Buitendag.

EFF councillor David Khoza said the ANC caucus which comprises ANC councillors must take full responsibility to pay Mndebele.

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“The party used its majority at the time to unfairly dismiss Mndebele,” said Khoza.

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) also shares this view.

“We don’t want public funds to be used to pay Mndebele, because that will harm service delivery. If they do that, it will be done without a council resolution and it will be unlawful,” said ATM councillor Lwandile Ziwele.

The chief whip of the council and an ANC councillor, Joseph Mtsweni, said every council decision, whether it is good or bad, is a collective decision.

“The decision to suspend and dismiss Mndebele was a council resolution. Once we are in the council chamber, we are a council. Council has standing rules that guide the sitting.

If we have dissenting views on an item, the item is taken to vote and obviously, those with numbers win.

“That doesn’t mean that you are not part of the decision if defeated.

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Participation means you were part when certain decisions were taken.

“Councillors need to stop this tendency of disowning their own decisions,” said Mtsweni.

The war between the municipality and Mndebele began in 2020 when the former mayor, Thandi Ngxonono recommended that Mndebele be placed on precautionary suspension due to non-performance.

Mndebele was charged and subjected to a disciplinary hearing without being given specific reasons. He approached the Middelburg High Court which declared the disciplinary proceedings null and void.

The court also refused the municipality leave to appeal the judgement. However, GMM’s council still resolved in an extraordinary meeting to terminate Mndebele’s employment as of July 16, 2021.

He was still receiving his salary and benefits at that time. It wasn’t until the CCMA hearing that GMM gave reasons for the termination. This did not help their case and CCMA also ruled that the dismissal was unfair.

The CCMA ordered Govan Mbeki Municipality to pay R1,67m to Mndebele by the end of October. Mndebele confirmed payment on Friday, November 18.