The IFP’s Bongiwe Mbatha has accused the ANC of turning Endumeni into a Banana Republic which they, the IFP, won’t allow.
In a wide-ranging interview Mrs Mbatha, a long-serving Councillor with Endumeni and a former Mayor, said ‘comrades’ had been appointed as senior managers in the municipality and their contracts extended and their salaries hiked without Council approval.
She said this was the case of both the recent appointments of the Financial and Corporate Services managers. “The advert said the salary was around R647 000 a month. When Council approved the appointments, the contract was for three years. However, now we hear the salary is up 20% and the contracts suddenly five years,” she claimed.
She also said acting municipal manager, Sakhele Zulu, is an ANC ‘comrade’ who serves on the parties’ Regional Executive Committee and should have never been appointed.
Mrs Mbatha said the Council was costing ratepayers hundreds of thousands of Rands after being taken to the Bargaining Council after employees hired during the time of T Biyela’s reign as municipal manager were later asked to leave.

Arbitration
“The matters were taken for Arbitration where Council was told to pay-out the employees and re-instate them as they had been illegally fired. In one case, Council was told to pay R198 000 to the person who was hired as Local Economic Development and Integrated Developmental Plan manager.”
Other allegations received by the Courier came from Dumisani Khuzwayo of the Endumeni Aggrieved Residents Committee who claimed that motions submitted by Councillor Mbatha, pertaining to her concerns, were purposely not put on the agenda for discussion at the next Council meeting.
He also claimed that Mr Zulu’s appointment is illegal, that financial statements had not been properly prepared in terms of legislation and that a far-more experienced candidate was overlooked for the position of Financial Manager. He also lashed out at the municipality for not reacting quicker to repair the large power outage experienced by many suburbs on December 31. “Endumeni is losing R36-million a year in electricity theft but the municipality pays its electricians, in the form of allowances, the highest salaries in South Africa.”
He also complained that the municipal website is not updated.
The continual water cuts and the spending of R45 928 on Christmas hampers by Councillors were also sources of concern for his committee, he said.