Council voids top job move

The eThekwini Municipality has rescinded its decision to hire disgraced Simphiwe Duma in a top job paying R1.7 million a year.

Durban - The eThekwini Municipality has rescinded its controversial decision to hire a disgraced former senior government official, Simphiwe Duma, in a top job paying R1.7 million a year.

There was an uproar in city hall corridors in August when The Mercury exposed the municipality for hiring Duma as the city’s deputy city manager for trading services (water, electricity and cleansing and solid waste departments). This key cluster accounts for more than 50% of the city’s budget.

The appointment was made despite his tainted tenure as the chief executive of the Technology Innovation Agency, an entity of the Department of Science and Technology.

Duma was dismissed from it last year after a Deloitte forensic investigation found him guilty of nepotism, intimidation of external auditors, and irregular investment and procurement transactions.

Duma was appointed to the eThekwini Municipality position along with Philemon Mashoko. The latter was made deputy city manager responsible for human settlements, engineering and transport. The two men were appointed after the human settlements and infrastructure portfolio was divided into two.

The report said Duma’s appointment had been rescinded “due to unresolved allegations against him by his previous employer”.

Mashoko would now take over the post of trading services. He is understood to have been the head of water and sanitation in the Ekurhuleni (Benoni) Metropolitan Municipality.

It was unclear when he would take up the position which has been vacant since 2012 when it was vacated by embattled former deputy city manager, Derek Naidoo. He left after after being implicated in the Manase graft report.

The city initially blundered in filling the post by appointing Slindokuhle Radebe, a former Ekurhuleni Municipality water and sanitation chief director, in 2012.

His appointment was rescinded after it emerged he had been suspended that year after a Special Investigating Unit probe into a R100 million tender.

DA provincial and eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango told the council that his party had been vindicated.

“We support the recommendation. We just want to highlight that it shows that, with a strong opposition, you are able to achieve something like this,” he said.

The ANC’s Nigel Gumede was unimpressed by Mncwango’s “sideshow”. Earlier, both men had approved the appointment.

“When we do things here, it is not down to the intelligence or strength of the opposition. In certain instances we listen to their views, we do our own investigation and determine a way forward,” he said.

Gumede is also the chairman of the human settlements and infrastructure committee, which both clusters report to.

He wondered if the DA, or any other party making suggestions which were not considered, “would make the opposition weak”.

“Here as council, we have to take the correct decision. The filling of these positions is long overdue,” he said.

Efforts to get comment from Duma were unsuccessful as he did not return calls or respond to an SMS sent to him.

The Mercury

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