In a bizarre move that amounts to interfering in administrative matters, the ANC in the Harry Gwala region in KwaZulu-Natal has directed the Greater Kokstad local municipality to immediately halt the process to hire a new chief financial officer (CFO).
Armon Zondi, coordinator of the regional task team, sent a letter to mayor Lwanda Madikizela and others. The letter, which is dated August 7, said the process, which is almost done, should be halted. This will be until the party has been “briefed” on the process. And that should be done before the end of next week.
“The RTT remains committed to assisting and providing guidance to the municipal leadership in appointing the CFO as soon as it is adequately briefed on all processes,” reads part of the letter to the political leadership of the municipality.
Municipality confirmed matter
The position is currently held by Londiwe Sotshede. He was seconded by the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COgTA).
The municipality confirmed that it has received the letter from Zondi. But it referred all questions about its content to the party. It also confirmed that the process to recruit a new CFO is almost done.
“On your second question, the municipality can comment and confirm that recruitment processes involving senior managers are dealt with in strict adherence with the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act (2000) and the municipality’s policies.
“The recruitment panel for the appointment of the CFO conducted its business. And it did so without any undue influence from anyone or and political formation.
“As a result, a report on the outcome of the interviews and the results of the competency assessment of the top two candidates were presented to the Executive Committee of the municipality on the 7th of August 2025 and are waiting for the sitting of Council to consider the recommendation of the Executive Committee on the date to be determined by the Honourable Speaker,” the municipality said in a response to Sunday World.
Party wants suitable candidate
Zondi confirmed that he wrote to the municipality about the recruitment. He said that was because the party wants suitable candidates to fill key positions.
“The ANC in [the] Harry Gwala region has set itself out on a path of renewal. As this collective, we are committed to ensuring that our deployees in government are supported on the quest to rooting (sic) out corruption and dubious appointments of senior managers in all the ANC-led municipalities. And we make no apology about that. Anyone who interprets that as interference can only be driven by nefarious agendas,” Zondi said.
