TWO parties from Ekurhuleni metro’s council have joined forces in wanting the city manager to be fired.
The DA and IRASA’s Izak Berg have placed pressure on the ANC to terminate Khaya Ngema’s contract immediately by requesting an urgent extraordinary council meeting by Wednesday.
This comes after the DA recused themselves from the proceedings of the council meeting on Thursday, last week, only returning during the hearing motions and petitions.
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The extraordinary meeting, according to a joint statement released by the DA and IRASA, would be to discuss the continued illegal employment of Ngema.
“The DA, with the support of Clr Izak Berg of IRASA, wrote and delivered an urgent letter to the speaker, Patricia Kumalo, immediately after a confidential session of council, in which she refused to allow Berg to read a letter to council from the MEC for local government to the metro’s mayor, Mondli Gungubele, instructing council to terminate Ngema’s contract in compliance with a High Court order,” the statement explains.
The DA said it would also be reporting Kumalo to the relevant authorities for the way in which she conducted the council meeting, during which she refused to put the DA’s additional recommendations on the item on Ngema to council for a vote.
According to the opposition party, this is in direct contravention of the by-law which governs the standing rules of council meetings.
“The DA has for the past three years applied pressure on the ANC-led council to apply the law on the matter of Ngema’s illegal appointment. The party, with IRASA, voted against the extension of Ngema’s contract back in September 2012. More recently, a judge of the South Gauteng High Court issued a court order on the matter, brought by an individual plaintiff, which agreed that Ngema’s contract was illegal,” IRASA’s national chairperson Berg and the DA’s caucus leader Fortune Mahano said in the statement.
“The letter given to Berg has proved once again that a cabal in the ANC, made up of the speaker, the mayor and the chief whip of council, Robert Mashego – and undoubtedly Ngema himself – were deliberately hiding from council the instruction of the MEC of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, to the mayor to comply with section 54A of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 as advised in the court case and to nullify the city manager’s employment contract.”
According to Berg and Mahano, the letter was written to the mayor on October 16, but the item in council was only accompanied by a letter from the MEC on October 2, which did not give clear instructions to council on the matter.
“It is of grave concern that the mayor has apparently blatantly broken the law, disobeyed a direct instruction from the MEC and misled council, all in an effort to protect Ngema. The DA and IRASA will be considering its options while it awaits the speaker’s response for their call for an extraordinary council meeting.
“Corruption appears to be so deeply rooted in the Ekurhuleni ANC that they will do whatever it takes to protect the culprit.”
Since being made aware of a High Court order on the status of Ngema, the DA said it has taken every step possible to ensure that council enforces the necessary steps stipulated in the South Gauteng High Court judgement.
“In fact, long before the matter was taken to court, the DA submitted motions to relieve the city manager of his duties based on his questionable conduct regarding the financial matters of council. While the requests have fallen on deaf ears, the DA remained vigilant and pursued the matter with the Auditor General as well as MEC Mamabolo.”
The DA and IRASA have stood by its beliefs that Ngema’s employment contract should be nullified and an acting city manager be put in place while the position is advertised.
The DA promised it would not stop until the correct measures have been taken by council and the post of the city manager is filled by a competent individual.
As the chief accounting officer, the city manager is responsible for the smooth running of the metro and Ngema’s behaviour in the past, the DA said, has already brought the metro into disrepute.
“We owe it to all communities to ensure that their Ekurhuleni is run ethically and efficiently.”
