Executive mayor of the city of Joburg Mpho Phalatse has been accused of misleading the city’s council to take out former acting municipal manager Floyd Brink out of the running for permanent appointment.
Brink was the metro’s COO and was appointed as acting city manager in February last year, when Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni departed.
However, he was placed on special leave in April this year following damning findings by ENSafrica, which found that he had failed to take “corrective or remedial action” against Hlula Msimang, the head of the public safety, for having signed off a multimillion-rand CCTV equipment tender without delegation of authority.
The suspension followed the tabling of the ENSafrica report to council by Phalatse. Her report, however, refers to the ENSafrica report as preliminary this is despite the ENSafrica report stating its a final report.
Muzi Khoza, from ENSafrica said: “I can confirm that our firm did submit a final investigation in relation to the matter you are enquiring about, dated 22 February 2022.”
Brink, in an interview with Sunday World, said Phalatse referred to the ENSafrica report as preliminary deliberately to hide from the council the “illegality” of the report.
According to regulations, only the council can sanction investigations into senior managers.
ENSafrica in this instance was appointed by the city’s legal department in conjunction with former head of Forensic Investigative Services, Shadrack Sibiya.
Asked on why he neglected to act against Msimang when the matter was brought to his attention, Brink said ENSafrica showed a lack of knowledge on how matters relating to senior municipal officials are dealt with. “The law says disciplinary action against the senior managers who reported to me could only be taken upon authorisation by the municipal council,” Brink said.
“It must be noted that I became aware of the said irregularities just before the elections, and the first ordinary municipal council was able to sit on 27 January 2022.”
Brink further accused Phalatse and Sibiya of having abused the ENSafrica report to exclude him from the recruitment process for the city manager’s post.
Phalatse’s spokesperson, Mabine Seabe, said the brief to ENSafrica was to investigate suspicious financial transactions and perform a preliminary investigation and its report finalised that part of the process.
“Senior officials became implicated during the investigation. Once this was known, a new process was commenced to inform Council and seek consent to formally investigate their conduct,” he said.
ANC caucus leader in the city of Joburg Dada Morero said Phalatse was supposed to get the council to sanction the investigations, but she chose to “undermine the authority of council”.
“The ENSafrica report is all over the place and the mayor says that it’s a preliminary report, while the report itself suggests that it’s final. The mayor has misled council,” said Morero.
His views were backed by EFF caucus leader Sepetlele Raseruthe. “She had dodgy reasons on why she did not consult council. We rejected that report of hers as it’s unlawful,” he said.
Joburg council speaker Vasco da Gama’s spokesperson, Angela Barnes, said: “Speaker of council, as head of the legislature and oversight, will wait for these items to be served in council before making comment to prevent any undue influence or predjudice on these items.”
Timeline of events:
30 October 2021: The said irregularities are brought to Brink’s attention.
1 November: Local government elections take place.
22 November: At the first council meeting, Phalatse is elected as the executive mayor.
28 November: A whistle-blower raises concerns about noncompliance in the procurement of handheld devices and CCTV equipment tenders to GFIS.
21 December: ENSafrica is appointed to investigate the allegations.
6 January 2022: ENSafrica asks for a meeting with Brink.
21 January: Brink writes to ENSafrica, telling the firm that as a senior manager, he can only be investigation after council has approved such a probe.
16 February: Brink is interviewed for the city manager position.
22 February: ENSafrica hands its report to the city, which recommends Brink face disciplinary action.
23 February: Sibiya releases a pre-employment screening report into Brink and notes the recommendations of ENSafrica.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
