ANC gives guilty municipal manager a new job
The Municipal Manager of Bitou (Plettenberg Bay) Municipality has been offered and has accepted a job as municipal manager in Sundays River Valley Municipality, despite being found guilty of financial irregularity.
Bitou Municipal Manager Lonwabo Ngoqo has been found guilty by a disciplinary enquiry on 4 of the 7 counts he was charged with, which included contraventions of the Municipal Finance Management Act, as well as an apparent violation of section 67 of the Municipal Systems Act, which means that he should therefore not be able to hold office in another municipality for the next 10 years. The disciplinary process is currently awaiting his arguments in mitigation before sentence is passed. Bitou municipality expect this process to be concluded within 2-3 weeks.
Despite this, it has emerged that Ngoqo has applied for and been appointed to the job of Municipal Manager of Sundays River Valley Municipality in the Eastern Cape. While this may not be in contravention of the exact letter of the new Municipal Systems Amendment Act it certainly violates the spirit of attempts to stop failed municipal officials from being reappointed in other municipalities.
In considering Ngoqo for the position, the ANC-run council in Sundays River decided to appoint him despite reports that he was under investigation. This shows inexcusable negligence at best, and will give rise to speculation that he is another ANC cadre being given a job because of his political connections.
Ngoqo has not yet informed Bitou that he is leaving for a job with a lower salary, and just days ago asked the council to replace his cellphone. This despite the fact that he has told Sundays River that he will start there on Wednesday.
DA Provincial spokesperson on local government Dacre Haddon has written to MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs Mlibo Qoboshiyane asking him to reverse or stay this appointment.
The DA calls on the national minister of Cooperative Governance, Richard Baloyi, to ensure that Qoboshiyane stops Ngoqo's appointment. Failure to do so will show that the ANC's attempts to fix failing municipalities are all talk when they come up against the practice of looking after comrades.
Note: Correspondence pertaining to Ngoqo's appointment can be found below.
Letter of acceptance
Letter to MEC page 1
Letter to MEC page 2
Letter to MEC page 3
Statement issued by James Lorimer MP, DA Shadow Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, January 29 2012
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
