MBOMBELA – The DA in the municipal council has added its voice to that of the provincial EFF in calling on the Office of the Public Protector (PP) to investigate the recent appointment of special security officers.
Last week week Mr Werner le Grange, the party’s chief whip in Mbombela, requested the investigation when he became aware of allegations about irregularities in the appointment of the 24 officers instead of 16 by-law officers, a change which was approved by the DA during a special council meeting on October 30.
The move comes more than a month after Mr Cyril Chuene on behalf of the EFF asked the PP to investigate the recruitment system on October 28. He claims that ANC members who don’t meet the minimum requirements were appointed without attending interviews.
It began on October 6 when municipal community-services employees embarked on the first of two protest actions over the matter, claiming the correct procedure was not followed and that some appointees were imposed by the ANC and were unfit for the job.
As a result of the protests, 35 traffic officers and firefighters have been placed on suspension. Mr Noko Seanego, who was community-services general manger at the time and has since been appointed as municipal manager is being accused of corruption over the appointment process.
He says he doesn’t know how many active duty traffic officers and firemen the municipality currently has. “I don’t have those numbers in front of me,” he told Lowvelder last week, more than two weeks after the newspaper’s persistent queries on the matter had gone unanswered.
He has made the accusations against him off as nonsense. Executive mayor Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi in turn accused the now suspended South African Municipal Workers Union shop steward, Mr Tokozisi Mhlongo of demanding the appointment of 13 of his friends.
Now the DA is calling on Mathonsi to disband the unit and restart the process. “We don’t have proof of the allegations that some of them have criminal records and don’t possess driver’s licences, but the allegations themselves are putting the entire unit’s integrity in doubt,” Le Grange said.
He said closure would come from the investigations by the PP and public service commission, but in the meantime the integrity of the unit, meant to enforce municipal by-laws, must remain above suspicion.
