Pressure mounts over return of Ekurhuleni city manager Kagiso Lerutla

The DA was up in arms on May 17 over the return of city manager Kagiso Lerutla to work.

The party demonstrated outside the council chambers, calling for his immediate suspension amid serious allegations.

DA Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Khathutshelo Rasilingwane confirmed that the party will resubmit an urgent motion to the speaker of council, seeking to place Lerutla on precautionary suspension.

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The party is also pushing for an urgent council sitting to deliberate on the matter.

At the centre of the controversy are allegations of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice against Lerutla, claims the DA says cannot be ignored, particularly given his seniority within the municipality.

Rasilingwane criticised Nkosindiphile Xhakaza for failing to act decisively when the matter was previously raised in council.

According to the DA, the mayor opted to delay action by requesting a legal opinion, despite having had weeks to consider the issue.

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“This is a slap in the face of residents,” Rasilingwane said, arguing that the failure to suspend Lerutla undermines accountability and erodes public trust in the municipality’s leadership.

The DA accused both the speaker and the ANC of shielding officials from scrutiny, warning that allowing Lerutla to resume duties sends the wrong message about governance and ethical leadership.

The party maintains that a precautionary suspension is necessary to protect the integrity of the city’s administration while investigations or legal proceedings unfold.

The DA added that the issue also feeds into broader concerns about service delivery.

The party argues that public funds must be safeguarded and directed towards improving basic services, rather than being compromised by alleged corruption.

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On Monday, Phakamile Mbengashe, head of communications for the City of Ekurhuleni, said there would be a council sitting on Thursday intended to conclude the previous meeting.

He confirmed that the city manager had returned to work and resumed his duties following the end of his leave.

Council reconvened on Thursday, but the city manager issue was not on the agenda. Whip of council, Pelisa Nkonjane, confirmed that the matter will only be discussed at the next council meeting.

“We understand that the community is curious and wants to know what will happen regarding the issue of the city manager. However, the council has already decided that the mayor must present a report.
“Therefore, the item will not serve in this meeting, as it must follow council processes.

“For an item to serve in council, it must first go through programming, which is chaired by the Speaker and includes the head of council and representatives from all parties.

“We will have another council meeting next week, and we hope the matter will be tabled then, provided all processes are followed,” explained Nkonjane.

Parties were anticipating Thursday’s council meeting, particularly because of the key item concerning the city manager.

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Speaker of the council John Senona confirmed that the item had not gone through programming; hence, it did not make it onto the agenda.

“We do not have the item on the agenda because it was not prepared in time.

“We wanted to give the executive an opportunity to properly bring the item before council. At the next council meeting, we expect that particular item to be included.”

Amid growing calls to suspend the city manager, the speaker said it would be premature to speculate on possible outcomes.

“We will have to wait for the item. There is also a legal opinion involved. Everyone, including myself, is waiting for that item so we can understand what the legal team is advising and allow the council to deliberate,” he explained.

He explained that the sitting was to deal with oversight items.

“The most important thing now is that we are dealing with oversight items, particularly those coming from the IDP process, which have been consolidated.

“Our priority is to adopt those items so that the budget can ultimately benefit the people,” he said.