MBOMBELA – The executive mayor Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi has cleared municipal manager Mr Noko Seanego of misconduct in appointing specialised security officers.
Mathonsi recently announced the appointment of an independent investigator into allegations that the 24 officers were appointed irregularly by Seanego in his former capacity as corporate services manager in October. The mayor presented this report to the Mbombela Local Municipality’s (MLM) council during a closed meeting last week.
According to DA chief whip in council Mr Werner le Grange the report let Seanego off the hook for any responsibility regarding the appointments.
Yet it found that there had been weaknesses in the recruitment process and that some employees attempted to influence it to the benefit of their girlfriends and family members.
“The report found that the individuals who had attempted to manipulate the process failed to benefit,” Le Grange said, adding that he could not disclose the full contents as the implicated officials were named in the report.
His party, the official opposition in council initially approved the appointment of the officers instead of by-law enforcers, after other community safety employees had started protesting against the matter in October.
These protests resulted in 38 traffic officers and firefighters being suspended for three months. Disciplinary processes are continuing against two of them.
Seanego was also arrested for fraud over the appointments in January, but the case had since been scrapped from the roll for further investigation.
The DA also earlier objected to the mayor investigating the matter, arguing that it was for council to do so.
But this week they claimed to have proved that “irregular appointments of by-law officials at Mbombela municipality were carried out” as the party had “requested Mathonsi to investigate allegations against Seanego and several other officials after they were implicated in a scandal” in December.
Le Grange told Lowvelder they hoped to ensure the credibility of further investigations and that the grey area in recruitment be addressed as a priority.
MLM spokesman Mr Joseph Ngala did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
