Ntshalintshali responds to DA’s corruption allegations

The former Emalahleni mayor denied having acted unlawfully.

In January WITBANK NEWS reported that DA representatives had laid charges against former eMalahleni mayor, Ms Lindiwe Ntshalintshali.

A police case was opened at Witbank Police Station on January 11 after the DA alleged that Ms Ntshalintshali had acted unlawfully in unilaterally increasing the salaries of the then acting municipal manager, Mr Sizwe Mayisela and three Section 56 managers unilaterally.

(Section 56 managers are defined in the Municipal Systems Act and refers to managers who are directly accountable to the municipal manager.) The DA alleged that due process was not followed.

In her response, Ntshalintshali stated that she had the authority to make decisions on the salaries of section 56 managers unilaterally and that she had therefore acted within the boundaries of her authority.

She also explained that salary raises were given to all the municpality’s section 56 managers – not only to four of them – and that these raises had been prescribed by the Minister of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

“No arrests have been made to date…the charges that were laid are without merit,” said Ntshalintshali in her written response.

She explained where her authority to unilaterally make decisions on section 56 managers’ remuneration came from.

According to Ntshalintshali, the eMalahleni Local Municipality and all of its officials operate and perform their duties and functions in terms of a document titled “Delegation of Authorities.”

This document assigns specific functions and powers to various officials of the Municipality.
The Delegation of Authorities that is central to this scenario, Ntshalintshali indicated, was adopted by the eMalahleni Council on 6 December 2012.

The Delegation of Authorities Document contains four parts.

Part A is titled “Powers reserved by Council,” Part B is called “Powers delegated to the Speaker.”

Part C contains the powers delegated to the Executive Mayor and Part D deals with powers delegated to the Municipal Manager.

The Delegation of Authorities states: “[The power] to determine or alter the remuneration benefits or other conditions of services of the Municipal Manager and the Managers directly accountable to the Municipal Manager (Section 56 managers) provided that the latter is done in consultation with the Municipal Manager.”According to Ntshalintshali’s legal representative, Athisten Kwezi Cooper, this allowed Ntshalintshali to unilaterally increase the salaries of municipal managers and section 56 managers.

Cooper addressed another of the DA’s concerns by indicating that Ntshalintshali did not need a council resolution prior to doing so.

Ntshalintshali explained what had necessitated the increases complained of by the DA.

“On 10 October, 2017, government announced the minimum salaries which municipal managers and section 56 managers from various municipalities were entitled to,” she said.

In January, 2018, these so-called “Upper Limits” were tabled in council. According to Ntshalintshali, no objections were made.

“Thereafter, the salaries of the Municipal Managers and all Managers directly accountable to the Municipal Manager (Section 56 Managers) were increased in line with the Upper Limits,” confirmed Ntshalintshali.

APOLOGY: Prior to publishing the January report titled “DA lays corruption charges against former eMalahleni mayor,” WITBANK NEWS had tried to get hold of Ntshalintshali for comment.

Despite the publication’s attempts, we were unable to get hold of her in time and failed to indicate same in our reportage.

The publication apologises for this error.

THE ORIGINAL REPORT DATED JANUARY 18, 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Premier Candidate, Jane Sithole and DA eMalahleni Caucus Leader, Naritha Naidu laid corruption charges against former eMalahleni mayor, Lindiwe Ntshalintshali, for violating the provisions of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

The charges were laid on Friday, January 11 at Witbank Police Station.

The charges were laid after the DA found evidence of Ntshalintshali increasing the salaries of the then acting municipal manager, Sizwe Mayisela and three section 56 managers without following due process.

A memo, signed by Ntshalintshali states that the increases were subsequent to Council Resolution B.001/18 taken on January 8 but this is not true as the council meeting took place on January 9 and no resolution relating to these increases was taken.

Instead, according to the minutes of the council meeting, Ntshalintshali, in her capacity as mayor of eMalahleni resolved that council merely note the increases, thereby eliminating any opportunity for discussing the issue.

According to the rules and orders of the local municipality, council may delegate certain powers to political office-bearers in terms of sections 59 and 60 of the Municipal Systems Act. These delegated powers include the determination of remuneration of senior managers.

“But there is no evidence of the eMalahleni council ever delegating Ntshalintshali to adjust these salaries; she took the decision by herself, completely disregarding council rules,” said Dumisile Masuku – provincial communications manager in a press release.

Further to this, minutes of the mayoral committee meeting where Ntshalintshali chose to present her decision to increase certain salaries, show that the committee recommended that this item be amended before being tabled in council, yet still, Ntshalintshali decided not to table this, but to rather increase these salaries without a council resolution.

By the time Mayisela was officially appointed as the municipal manager in June 2018, he had been earning the salary of a municipal manager for three months.

“The DA believes that Ntshalintshali’s actions are not only corrupt and fraudulent but also demonstrate her incapability to hold public office as she has failed to uphold the provisions of the Municipal Structures Act and the rules and orders of the municipality. It is clear that during her tenure as mayor, Ntshalintshali was more concerned with lining the pockets of her connected cadres than addressing the corruption that caused the collapse of eMalahleni,” said Masuku.