ELM CFO fired after disciplinary no-shows
Dyakala’s dismissal was recommended and the sentence was accepted at a recent ELM Council meeting.
The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) will in the near future advertise its vacant CFO (Chief Financial Officer) position after last month’s firing of Andile Dyakala.
ELM Council in late August accepted the dismissal recommendation of Dyakala by an independent disciplinary panel after a fresh disciplinary process – even whilst the senior official’s first disciplinary process was still under review at the Johannesburg Labour Court.
Although ELM spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni said ELM had not “as yet” advertised the vacant post, senior municipal sources said the post would still be advertised.
Widely regarded as extremely divisive and abusive – even to his superiors – Dyakala had two court protection orders against him after online threats made to a former female acting Executive Mayor and Vaal business leader Klippies Kritzinger.
From documentation in Vaalweekblad’s possession, Dyakala twice failed to attend his latest disciplinary proceedings.
At the time he was still on suspension from a prior disciplinary at which he was also found guilty but which ELM Council did not accept as it regarded a final warning issued as too lenient.
As CFO, Dyakala has presided over the rapid decline of ELM service delivery and financial management which led to bulk utility service providers such as Eskom and Rand Water attaching the municipality’s bank accounts late in 2022.
Prior to that, Dyakala also destroyed one of ELM’s principal revenue streams by without warning shutting down its smart meter programme without a viable alternative – the decision led to widespread chaos and billions lost in municipal revenue as illegal connections multiplied.
But the BXC smart meter programme was re-instated by Johannesburg High Court order which awarded the service provider both a R500 million settlement and reinstatement of services.
ELM was earlier this year forced to apply to the National Treasury for relief on its R6 billion Eskom debt which was granted with a host of financial, infrastructure and management conditions – including rolling out a smart meter programme across Emfuleni.
According to documentation in possession of Vaalweekblad, Dyakala was found guilty on three charges, and not guilty on one charge.
Dyakala did not respond to a Vaalweekblad request for comment.
