Top metro appointment to be probed
The Tshwane metro will investigate its appointment of a top financial officer with an alleged murky past.
The Tshwane metro’s appointment of Aubrey Mushwana – who resigned from his previous position under a cloud following serious claims of mismanagement – to a top financial position will be investigated, the metro said.
The metro had stated that it was “unaware” of Aubrey Mushwana’s track record as CFO of the Ba-Phalaborwa local municipality before appointing him in a finance position in its housing and human settlements department.
This was after the DA revealed that Mushwana had resigned from the Ba-Phalaborwa before a disciplinary process could be instituted against him for failing to perform his duties, which resulted in the municipality receiving two disclaimer opinions from the Auditor-General (AG).
Blessing Manale, spokesperson for Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, was quoted as saying that Tshwane regretted that the employee had not disclosed material information to the panel that interviewed him.
He added that because the disciplinary process had not been concluded by the Ba-Phalaborwa municipality and Mushwana had not been found guilty, this information could only have come to light if he had voluntary disclosed it during the selection process.
Tshwane manager Jason Ngobeni meanwhile announced that an investigation had been launched into the appointment of Mushwana.
While the DA welcomed the probe, serious questions remained over Mushwana’s appointment, said DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga.
“Most importantly, while Mushwana chose not to reveal the disciplinary process that was pending against him, his poor track record as CFO of Ba-Phalaborwa municipality is publicly available,” Msimanga said in a statement.
“Under his watch as CFO the municipality received two disclaimers from the AG.”
Some of the serious findings made by the AG during Mashwana’s tenure as CFO included:
· The municipality spending millions of rand on consultants for financial reporting but still receiving a disclaimer
· Serious weaknesses in leadership, human resource management and adherence to policies and procedures
· There were also no proper record-keeping, reporting or compliance systems
· During the 2012/2013 financial year, the municipality also spent over R29 million in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which was largely as a result of the municipality failing to follow proper procurement processes.
“This information has been released publicly by the AG and can be obtained by conducting a simple internet search,” according to Msimanga.
“Surely the Tshwane metro should have taken these serious failures into account before deciding to appoint Mushawana to a position where he will be required to manage public funds – in this case the metro’s housing and human settlements budget totaling just over R670 million for the 2015/16 financial year?”
Msimanga stated that Mushwana’s appointment raised serious questions over the Tshwane metro’s selection and recruitment processes.
“How many other officials, with dubious track records in government, have also been appointed and are currently working in the metro?”
Mayor Ramakgopa still needed to answer if the position had been advertised, and in light of Mushwana’s track record, why he had been appointed, Msimanga said.
“The DA is committed to putting an end to the patronage system created by the ANC when it takes over the Tshwane metro in 2016,” he stressed.
“We will bring change to Tshwane, change that ensures competent civil servants are appointed who put the interests of residents first.”
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