DA rejects eThekwini Municipal Manager appointment
5 April 2022
The eThekwini Executive Committee and Full Council have rejected the screening panel’s report to appoint a new Municipal Manager. The panel was chaired by Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda. This means that the report cannot be adopted and that the process must start afresh.
The DA maintained from the start that the panel should include members of the opposition. A proposal to include the full Executive Committee as the screening panel was narrowly defeated by the Council in December. The panel consisted of two ANC councillors – the Mayor and Councillor Nkosenhle Madlala – and a member from civil society.
Before the interviews concluded, reports leaked that the ANC’s deployment committee had met and that a candidate had been named. This is the same candidate whose name was submitted as the highest ranked candidate by the panel on Monday.
The DA believes that this goes beyond conspiracy and conjecture. The Regulations for the Appointment of Senior Managers, which are part of the Municipal Systems Act, specifically require that no members of the panel may have a conflict of interest in this matter. They further require that candidates may not be prejudiced in the process.