The Pietermaritzburg City Hall in the CBD. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo/ Independent Newspapers
Durban — Can the ANC-run Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) Municipality get rid of its city manager without getting sued and losing lots of money?
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and the DA are convinced that the cash-strapped municipality will not escape litigation after the council decided at a sitting last week to suspend city manager Lulamile Mapholoba.
The discussion and the decision to suspend Mapholoba happened behind closed doors during the sitting.
While the move to investigate allegations against Mapholoba has been welcomed, questions have been raised about the process that led to the suspension, including:
* Whether sufficient time was given to call a meeting and an urgent council sitting that decided to ask the city manager for reasons why he should not be suspended.
* The absence of a municipal representative at the council meeting as the municipality is under administration which means that such a representative has to be present during all council activities.
Msunduzi DA leader, councillor Ross Strachan, branded the suspension unlawful and irregular, adding that they did not want to be associated with the measure.
“Any allegations of corruption and misconduct must be investigated accordingly with urgency, but due process must be followed.
“On Wednesday last week a special full council meeting was held irregularly without following our Council Rules of Order in terms of a 24-hour notice.
“No communication was given to the administrators, who of course hold the highest mandate in terms of being under Administration (Section 139 1 (b). The meeting was immediately irregular, and the DA made this very clear and recorded its objections,” said Strachan.
He said that at this week’s meeting, Mayor Mzi Thebolla tabled his report to precautionarily suspend the city manager and refused to furnish the city manager’s written representation.
According to the DA, the ANC is desperately holding on to what little power they have left, and any official that seeks to switch “the tap off” is inevitably going to be removed by “hook or crook”.
ACDP councillor Rienus Niemand confirmed that Thebolla had refused to furnish council with Mapholoba’s written response.
The councillor also expressed concern over possible litigation for council because the suspension had been carried out “without following due process. Our position is that corruption and wrongdoing must be exposed, and investigated and those responsible must be thrown in jail regardless of their position”.
Responding to why he should not be suspended, Mapholoba said the allegations contained in the letter were broad, without particulars and vendetta-driven.
“I record that the decision of council is unlawful, irregular, motivated by bad faith and improper purpose, and without merit,” he said.
Mapholoba noted how the special council meeting of February 21 was irregular and illegal in that it was not approved by the administrator as required by Section 139(b) of the Municipal Act.
Mapholoba said that owing to the failure to follow proper channels, a court was likely to set aside the council’s decision.
According to the city manager, he had done a lot since arriving at the municipality in 2022, and had instilled a sense of discipline, including axing troublesome staff members as part of bringing the municipality back to normality.
Msunduzi municipality has been under administration since 2019. Samora Ndlovu, the secretary of the ANC’s Moses Mabhida region, under which the municipality falls, said the ruling party was unapologetic about what he termed as “exercising the oversight role on the municipality”.
He accused the ACDP and DA of hypocrisy, saying they were part of the council sitting when the decision was taken.
“The DA clearly has no clue about running a municipality and that is why they rush to the media instead of raising matters at council,” said Ndlovu.
He said the ruling party was confident that the decision taken to suspend the city manager had been correct.
Sunday Tribune