City ordered to pay officials R1.3m for botched suspensions.
Nine months after the City of Tshwane suspended five senior officials with pay for their roles in the irregular award of the Rooiwal tender, it has been ordered to pay them collectively more than R1.3 million in consolation.
The five must also be allowed to return to work by 20 January.
According to a bargaining council ruling issued shortly before Christmas, the suspensions were “capricious and arbitrary”, and a press release issued by the city at the time “caused irreparable harm to the dignity, reputation and social status” of the five officials.
The consolation award equals two months’ salary for each and varies between R206 000 and R314 000.
This new financial obligation came shortly after Eskom named Tshwane its fourth biggest debtor, with R6.7 billion in arrear debt at the end of November.
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Tender award
The tender for upgrading the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant was awarded in 2019 to NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting, owned by ANC benefactor Edwin Sodi, in a joint venture (JV) with CMS Water Engineering.
The award was made during the tenure of former DA mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and was aimed at improving the quality of water supplied to residents of Hammanskraal.
The JV later abandoned the project, and the city then terminated the contract for non-performance.
A subsequent forensic report found that the JV was non-compliant and should have been disqualified from the bidding process. It recommended disciplinary action against the five officials.
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Disciplinary and suspensions
According to the bargaining council ruling, the officials remained in their posts during the disciplinary process. They were found guilty on only one of the four charges against them, and the chair of the disciplinary panel imposed a one-month suspension without pay for each.
The city, with the support of then DA mayor Cilliers Brink, considered this as a “slap on the wrist” and applied to the Labour Court to have the sanction rescinded and the officials fired. That case is still pending.
The city then suspended them with pay and issued the press statement, which has now been found to have harmed their reputations.
According to the ruling, suspensions are governed by the collective agreement between the South African Local Government Association (Salga), representing the municipalities as employers, and the municipal unions Samwu and Imatu.
This agreement does not provide for suspensions post-disciplinary processes and limits suspensions to a period of three months, with the possibility of extending them for a further three months. In this case, the suspensions did not comply with the requirements.
The matter is also being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks.
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Call for a review
Brink has since written to city manager Johann Mettler to ask that the bargaining council’s decision to lift the suspension of the Rooiwal Five be taken on review in the high court. “Given the history and magnitude of tender rigging in Tshwane, it is essential that the matter be looked over [by] a court of law,” he said in a statement.
In his letter, which Moneyweb has seen, Brink says: “Given the professional training and experience of each of the Rooiwal Five, the manner in which they misdirected themselves in awarding the tender to an unqualified bidder is inexcusable.”
Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city is still studying the ruling, and no decision about a review has been made yet.
In his letter, Brink says “one of the Rooiwal Five implicated in this matter has been involved in the evaluation of a string of multi-billion-rand irregular tenders awarded by the City of Tshwane, and yet has survived a turnover of several mayors and city managers”.
From his statement, he is clearly referring to Thembeka Mphefu, who will now return to her position as head of supply chain management.
The other four officials are Stephens Notoane, group head of water and sanitation; Justice Sekokotla, director of electrification; Dumisani Gubuza, divisional head of water and sanitation; and Frans Manganye, divisional head of electricity planning and development.
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Following the ruling, the matter has played out in heated exchanges on social media platform X between Cilliers and other DA representatives and supporters on the one side, and ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont and other party supporters on the other.
Brink posted about it, emphasising Sodi’s ANC links and adding: “Now an ANC coalition [plus the EFF and ActionSA] is in charge of Tshwane.”
ActionSA researcher Ivyn Sambo-Maseko responded: “Just a reminder for everyone the DA was leading Tshwane when this tender was signed off and approved by the DA administration.”
Brink retaliated: “Yea, and at the time ActionSA’s Dr Nasiphi Moya [now ActionSA mayor] was the mayor’s chief of staff. But contrary to the suggestion of ActionSA trolls, which is an awkward one for you guys, there’s no evidence that the mayor’s office acted improperly. Rooiwal investigation was called by a DA mayor.”
Quoting Brink’s post, Beaumont commented: “Imagine this from the same party which: 1) Led the City when this tender was awarded to Edwin Sodi in 2019; and 2) Opposed ActionSA’s efforts to force the investigation that led to the removal of these officials. The City is analyzing the judgement & will respond decisively.”
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This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
