Officials of Govan Mbeki Municipality said in a statement that they were concerned that various media houses are publishing sensitive and confidential information on ongoing and concluded investigations.
The statement reads that the municipality is in the process of conducting various investigations that include, among others, financial misconduct as well as other labour-related cases.
It further reads that the sensitivity around some of the matters includes law enforcement agencies and the publication of such information compromises the integrity of the investigation.
The municipal officials want to express that the municipality’s communications department did not issue the information gathered or leaked reports because this information is used as evidence in the various disciplinary processes.
The municipal officials reckon in their statement that how it is published has the potential to endanger lives and jeopardises the finalisation of the investigations.
According to the statement, the municipality has a policy on how information can be accessed and the officials are pleading with the journalists from various media houses to allow the municipality the space to conduct its businesses in terms of its constitutional mandate that is enshrined in the country’s Constitution which is the
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Municipal Systems Act, Structures Act, Municipal Finance Management Act and other legal prescriptions that governs municipalities.
“Such investigations and disciplinary processes information can be accessed through the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA),” said Lucky Mhlongo, the municipality’s spokesperson in the statement.
“Some of the reports that were published have not even been tabled to council because of the ongoing investigations.”
The then MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mandla Msibi, tabled the terms of reference for the forensic investigation to the municipality during an extraordinary council meeting in 2019.
The investigation was done under Section 106 (1) (b) of the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000. This act states that if the MEC has reason to believe that a municipality in the province cannot or does not fulfil a statutory obligation binding on the municipality or that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occurred or is occurring in a municipality in the province, the MEC must designate a person or persons to investigate the matter.
The findings revealed non-compliance with the recruitment, selection and acting appointment procedures, as well as nepotism.
The appointment of the then CFO, Bongumusa Sithole was made in contravention of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000.
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Sithole was appointed by the municipality as the CFO in August 2017. He was suspended in March 2018 for alleged fraudulent payments estimated at R3,5m to companies without following the proper procedure.
Sithole took the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), but GMM did not attend the proceedings to present their case.
The CCMA dismissed the case and ruled that Sithole had to return to work. Opposition parties alleged that Sithole was working without an employment contract, which was refuted by the ANC councillors.
After returning to work, Sithole received another letter that the council was intending to again suspend him. He took the matter to the high court where he also won, but his contract was eventually terminated.
The investigation also found that the municipality was guilty of non-implementation of municipal council resolutions and irregular maladministration in the awarding of bursaries, the irregular extension or termination of service providers’ contracts, and irregular spending and underspending of MIG funds and Water Services Infrastructure Grants (WSIG), and also failed to complete initiated projects.
It was also found that Govan Mbeki Municipality abused and did not comply with the supply chain management processes, including advertising of tenders and wrongful disciplinary action against employees at the time.
