eThekwini Municipality's plan to recover R53 million from former employee faces criticism from DA, ActionSA
Claims that the eThekwini Municipality intends to recover R53 million from a former employee implicated in wrongful actions have been criticised as a farce by opposition parties.
The office of Deputy President Paul Mashatile has come under fire from opposition parties after it claimed in a response to a Parliamentary question that the eThekwini Municipality intended to recover close to R53 million from a former employee.
Mzamo Billy, a DA MP and member of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), questioned what the national government was doing to hold the municipality and anyone in the municipality who had acted wrongly accountable after the municipality was forced to pay R53 million to a service provider.
The issue concerns a settlement agreement made by the municipality with a service provider after a legal dispute arose.
The City was forced to pay R53 million after its bid to challenge the settlement payment at the Constitutional Court was unsuccessful.
At the centre of the argument is a claim that city officials and a lawyer representing the City had entered into an agreement to pay a service provider R30 million after cancelling the contract with that service provider.
The City later tried to disown the agreement, claiming that those who had entered into it had no power to do so. They sought to challenge the matter in court and lost, including at the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile, the amount grew from R30 million to approximately R53 million due to interest.
In his questions, Billy asked, “As Leader of Government Business, will you commit to holding both the City’s management and eThekwini’s political leadership accountable for this unlawful decision that has drained the public purse?”
Billy had submitted questions to the Office of the Deputy President, the Treasury, and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) regarding what actions they were taking to scrutinise the payment from eThekwini to a service provider and who should be held accountable.
He stated that the two departments distanced themselves from the matter.
The Office of the Deputy President stated that it understands eThekwini is pursuing the official responsible for the financial loss.
“According to the report we received from the KZN Office of the Premier and eThekwini Municipality, the matter between the Municipality and the quoted company has been finalised after the ruling of the Constitutional Court. Therefore, there is no basis for national government intervention in this matter because the recovery process has commenced. In this regard, eThekwini Municipality is pursuing recovery of R53 million from the responsible former official,” the response said.
Billy said:“While we welcome confirmation that recovery efforts are underway against a certain former official, the Deputy President’s response, similar to those of the Ministers of Cogta and Finance before him, fails once more to meet the test of accountability.”
Billy added that Mashatile cannot continue to hide behind “recovery processes” while residents are left with deteriorating services and drained municipal coffers.
ActionSA MP Alan Beesley stated that the response by Mashatile was a complete farce, as the chances of any meaningful recovery are minimal.
“Ultimately, it will be the ratepayers of eThekwini who will be paying the R53 million. The blame for this debacle should rest with the entire management.”