Paying former MM sparks a heated argument in council meeting at Govan Mbeki Municipality
All those who ask about the issue have left the meeting without the speaker's permission that day after lunch.
The Economic Freedom Fighters and the Freedom Front Plus councillors questioned the decision of paying the former Govan Mbeki municipal manager, Felani Mndebele.
These parties claimed no council resolution allowed the municipality to pay Mndebele R1,67 million. The executive mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, refuted the claim of both parties.
Zuma said the speaker at the previous council meeting on Monday, October 31, ruled that the municipality should comply with the Commission for the Conciliation, Meditation and Arbitration (CCMA) judgement.
“Some of the councillors who are now deliberating on the matter were not here then. They left the meeting and should not talk about what transpired during the proceedings as if they were part of it.
“All those who ask about the issue now, had left the meeting without the speaker’s permission after lunch that day,” said Zuma.
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“Aranda Nel-Buitendag from the FF+ only alerted the speaker that the council did not constitute a quorum after the speaker had already ruled on the Mndebele issue,” said Zuma.
The MMC for Water and Sanitation, Doctor Mtshali, said the council had long taken a resolution to pay the former MM.
Mtshali said the council resolved and mandated the mayor to conclude the matter in their previous term.
The council then sent Zuma to Mndebele with a settlement proposal to leave the municipality, but it was rejected in July last year.
Mndebele’s lawyers wrote a letter to Zuma in which he rejected the proposal. Mndebele demanded compensation for the financial loss he suffered in a wrongful disciplinary hearing that lead to him losing a lot of money.
His lawyers also issued the municipality with a letter of demand for about R1.9 million last December.
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