Director paid R90K salary, absent from work for months

AbaQulusi residents are paying the Director of Corporate Services, Nana Sibisi, a monthly salary of about R90 000, even though she hasn’t been to work since sometime last year.

Afriforum’s André van der Walt says he finds this, “unacceptable and absolutely unbelievable.”

“We are paying somebody to do nothing. That’s ridiculous,” said Mr van der Walt.

ANC councillor, Bheka Mtshali, says it’s a strange situation at AbaQulusi, where municipal directors are not at work when they should be, and people decide to work when they feel like working.

“No wonder the service delivery situation is as it is right now,” added Cllr Mtshali.

Ms Sibisi, however, insists that she is, “an ordinary law abiding citizen and a diligent worker,” claiming there are valid reasons for her staying away from work.

At first Ms Sibisi refused to return to work saying that she did not feel safe after being physically forced out of her office during a municipal strike last year. After a couple of months’ absence, she was suspended by council, with full pay, when, “some of the agreements she signed, while she had been acting in the position of municipal manager, were found to be questionable.”

Last week Thursday would have been Ms Sibisi’s first day back at work after several months, but she says she was told by current acting municipal manager, Bongiwe Mnikathi, “To get out of the office.” Ms Mnikathi, accompanied by two security guards, then locked Ms Sibisi’s office door and blocked her access disk.

“Ms Mnikathi was very angry and she seems to be taking this matter personally,” claims Ms Sibisi.

Explaining her reason for being absent from work, Ms Sibisi recounts the municipal strike that took place last year, “The striking workers came into my office, pushed my desk and physically pushed me. This was the second time that something like this had happened. I asked that the municipality to upgrade the security so that we are protected in our offices, but they did nothing. A safe working environment is a constitutional right. It is well within my rights, if I don’t feel safe, not to go to work. I was being intimidated.”

Three months ago, during her absence from work, the council suspended Ms Sibisi and formally charged her for signing documents awarding land to a development company for a shopping complex. The council had decided that Ms Sibisi had acted without authority.

“The development company had been appointed by the municipality way before I started work here. When I took over as municipal manager, the developers did a presentation to council. I then presented the item to council for finalisation and there was a council resolution to have the documents signed. There are minutes to that effect and this matter was started and finalised while the municipality was under administration, so there was an MEC representative responsible for the ratification of all the decisions taken at the municipality,” explained Ms Sibisi.

“Since I was charged, three months have lapsed. In that time, they were supposed to have appointed an independent investigator, but this never happened. A hearing was scheduled and the attorneys were present, but the municipality had failed to give their lawyers instructions on how to proceed so the hearing had to be cancelled. Now, according to the disciplinary code for senior officials, I have to go back to work because three months have gone by since I was charged but nothing has happened.”

Ms Sibisi has accused AbaQulusi municipality of using officials to fight political battles.

“Politics is definitely playing a part in what is happening here. It is my wish that the people in Vryheid get what they pay for… People with the interest at heart to serve them. I hope that Cogta comes and takes a closer look at how the municipality is being run,” concluded Ms Sibisi.

Cllr Mtshali said the fact that Ms Sibisi was being paid for not working, even before she was charged and suspended, makes him furious.

“At AbaQulusi, we really have to review our recruitment strategy. We have employees but we don’t have human capacity. You can have a number of people at work but that doesn’t mean that these people have the know-how or the work ethics. The staff is running a political program and the management doesn’t seem to have the capacity to deal with them. How do you decide in the morning that you are going to down tools and let the residents suffer, and then senior management claims it can do nothing about it. The institution is being flushed away by the staff and we can’t have workers that continuously do as they feel,” said Cllr Mtshali.

“In December, you will not believe how many middle managers were just at home pretending to be sick. I want these people to be thankful for the opportunity to serve the community,” he concluded.

AbaQulusi media liaison officer, Arnold Ramodibe, confirmed that Ms Sibisi had been suspended and charged, but no further comment was forthcoming from the municipality.