The Mpumalanga premier is investigating allegations that a senior manager in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality doesn’t have a matric.
Locals have reported to the Premier’s Office that Mzwakhe Mogane was appointed with only a Grade 10 certificate.
Mogane is responsible for service delivery and budgets for Moremela, Leroro, and Matibidi villages.
Thaba Chweu Service Delivery Forum, an activist group known for protests over infrastructure failures, complained on April 2.
Verify the credentials
It urged Premier Mandla Ndlovu to verify Mogane’s credentials, citing legal requirements for the role.
The probe will assess if Mogane’s qualification meets the minimum requirements for the position.
“It is unacceptable that an individual without even a matric certificate holds a strategic position in our municipality,” the forum wrote. “As Thaba Chweu Service Delivery Forum, we demand accountability and the removal of Mr Mogane Mzwakhe as a manager, ensuring that the position is filled by a qualified candidate.”
The forum has alleged that Mogane, appointed in 2015 with only a Grade 10 qualification, later obtained Grade 11 and presented a fraudulent matric certificate. They urged the premier to authenticate the certificates.
Complaint is with the premier’s office
Provincial spokesperson George Mthethwa confirmed receipt of the complaint.
“This serves as confirmation that the Office of the Premier has received the memorandum. The 7 days started on 3 April 2025. The response will be provided [to the community] accordingly,” Mthethwa told Sunday World.
Municipal spokesperson Themba Sibiya confirmed Mogane’s employment but disputed the timeline in the complaint.
“The municipality confirms the employment of Mr Mogane Madala Petrus with effect from 1 February 2009 as a public liaison officer. He subsequently served as the PA to the Executive Mayor and Speaker from 2016 until he was horizontally transferred to serve as Unit Manager for Northern Areas,” Sibiya said.
Vetting has begun
He said vetting of employees began in July 2022 after the promulgation of the Municipal Staff Regulations and is ongoing. He then said the municipality was closing all skills gaps among the officials.
“By extension, [the municipality] conducted the vetting process of qualifications tendered by all existing employees. That process is still underway,” he said.
Sibiya added that the vetting was not to single out one employee but was aimed at identifying skills gaps, verifying qualifications, and improving service delivery capacity in the municipality.
“Yes, [the complaint] was duly received on April 2,” Sibuyi confirmed. “Indeed, the municipality intends to take any steps to investigate whether any fraudulent qualification has been tendered for consideration.”
Legislature demands a skills audit for all municipal staff
The timing of the complaint has heightened its political weight. It landed hours after the Mpumalanga legislature adopted a motion to audit municipal staff skills.
Motion sponsor and EFF MPL Ntsako Mkhabela said this was not an isolated case but a symptom of a deeper crisis in local government.
“As we speak, comrades in Thaba Chweu are unlawfully extending acting positions beyond the legally allowed three months without proper approval, paralysing the municipal purse beyond repair,” she told the house.
“We call for the skills audit because we need to stop incompetent deployed cadres in municipalities and replace them with those who can do the job. We will ensure that managers who are paid more than half a million rand a year are fully competent.”
Hot on the heels of another qualification scandal
Mkhabela also cited the recent national uproar around Zwelo Masilela. The ANC youth league treasurer was determined to have held a senior researcher post at Mbombela Municipality for years without the requisite qualification. He only obtained his diploma in journalism later in 2021.
“How can we justify appointing someone to such a senior role without the required qualifications?” she asked.
FF Plus MPL Werner Weber supported the motion and echoed concerns over politically motivated appointments.
“You do not need a specific certificate to become a politician. What a politician needs is supporters — people who vote for him,” said Weber. “In municipalities, to do the job, you need skilled people. I have to agree with the EFF—and there I’m risking being disciplined by my party, but I will agree. You have skilled people applying for a job, and then a less capable person is appointed because of his affiliations.”
Ongoing failure
The forum says this goes beyond one appointment to reflect the municipality’s ongoing failure to deliver.
“The boreholes and pumps are said to be forever broken without any solutions, forcing villagers to rely on streams,” the forum said. “Instead of staging violent protests, the community decided to take a formal route, and that’s why we wrote to the premier. We gained confidence when we watched the legislature pass the motion for a municipal skills audit. Let it start here in Thaba Chweu.”
After promising to respond our inquiry, there was not a peep from Mogane after he received the WhatsApp message.
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