NELSPRUIT – As February draws to a close, it marks the fourth month that municipal manager (MM), Mr Xolani Mzobe has been on forced leave. Pending an investigation by Mbombela which will determine his reinstatement or dismissal, Mzobe is being paid R108 090 per month, including benefits.
This has cost the municipality R432 363 for the period he has not been working. He was suspended by council on November 5 following an investigation by the provincial department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), of spending and procurement surrounding the Afcon tournament co-hosted by Mbombela last year.
A committee was appointed in January to look into the matter. Municipal spokesman, Mr Joseph Ngala confirmed this week that the reports on financial statements from Afcon will remain deferred until all disciplinary matters have been concluded. More than a year after the tournament, no such report has been made public.
In the meantime, Mzobe is at home on full pay drawing an annual salary of R806 038, along with allowances of R304 780 and contributions to medial aid and pension. This brings the total cost to R1,3 million a year.
All this while the financial situation is in need of a turnaround, according to the municipality’s own mid-year budget report. (See report elsewhere). In his suspension, the MM joins his successor, Mr Jacob Dladla, who was suspended in 2008. He took the matter to the Labour Court, which found against him.
This did not stop Dladla from threatening to sue Mbombela, and it gave him a golden handshake of R1,5 million in 2011 when his contract was supposed to have ended, allegedly to avoid further legal action and allow council to appoint a new MM.
While he was suspended, Ms Norah Thembu, the chief financial officer at that time, acted as MM while Dladla was at home on special leave, drawing a full salary until his dismissal. Thembu and Mr Sigananda Siboza, chief operating officer, took to turns in the postion until Mzobe was appointed in 2012.
Since then, Dladla has faced charges of fraud and corruption related to the construction of Mbombela Stadium along with the so-called Lefika-trio. Mr Bobby Motaung, manager of Kaizer Chiefs; Mr Herbert Theledi, Motaung’s partner in Lefika Emerging Equity, and Mr Chris Grip, former Lefika chief executive, were charged with using a false tax certificate when they had bid for the design tender, forging a letter from council to obtain a R1 million overdraft and stealing R143 million.
It is alleged that the trio collaborated to appoint construction giant, Basil Reed to build the stadium, with Dladla’s knowledge thereof. The 2006 tender was worth R920 million. The cases against the accused, including co-accused Mr Tebogo Kubeka, former technical manager in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality, and Mr Michael Romanos, a lawyer were provisionally struck from the court roll on June 24.
Capt Paul Ramaloko, spokesman for the Hawks said that the charges could be reinstituted by the NPA at a later stage.
Even Dladla’s predecessor, Mr Bruno Vilane, who finished his five-year term as MM in 2006, was not without controversy. Unlike his two successors, he managed to avoid disciplinary action being instituted against him while in office. Yet, by the time Vilane had left, he was being sued for R498 750 for authorising an irregular traffic tender as well as R172 069 for irregularly approving performance bonuses.
He allegedly awarded the latter to himself and other senior managers of Mbombela, and as a result it refused to renew his employment contract. Since leaving office, he has also been arrested on murder charges. Vilane, his son, Mr Nhlahla Bruno Jr, as well as Mr Welcome Zwelithini Tsela, Mr Andile Lawrance Masuku, and Mr Makusile Mahlangu stand accused of the murder of Mr Benjamini Ncongwane, who was killed on Christmas Day in 2009 after suffering third-degree burns when petrol was poured over him before he was set alight.
All five accused are out on R5 000 bail. The trial is set to continue in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court in August. At the time of going to press, the National Prosecuting Authority could not indicate when charges against Dladla might be expected to be reinstated.
