City Power MD ‘immediately released from contractual responsibilities’

City Power MD Sicelo Xulu‚ who was placed on special leave in February this year pending the outcome of a probe into alleged corruption at the power utility‚ has been immediately released from his contractual responsibilities.

This follows a damning final forensic report by Size Ntsaluba Gobodo Incorporated report into allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement‚ costing the public billions of rand.

City of Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba said that noting the contents of the final report‚ detailing serious misconduct on the part of the MD‚ the City Power Board would ordinarily institute a disciplinary hearing. However the MD’s contract would expire at the end of August and the City would not be able to complete the disciplinary process in that time.

It was for this reason that the Board had taken a decision to immediately release the MD from his contractual responsibilities‚ Mashaba said. “This decision – which I fully support – will begin the process of restoring good governance and ending corruption at the power utility‚” Mashaba added.

“Weak corporate governance and corruption at City Power have for too long been allowed to rob our residents of much needed service delivery. This has most recently been made evident by alleged corruption and gross mismanagement of the Eldorado Park and Hopefield substation contracts where millions of Rand were paid to a contractor who has not performed the work required.

“Had City Power’s governance and management systems not been eroded by corruption‚ quality services would have been delivered to the residents of these communities‚” the Joburg mayor stated. He said he had also instructed the City’s Group Forensic and Investigation Service Unit to extract relevant information from the final report for the possible institution of criminal charges against numerous officials implicated.

The full contents of the forensic report could thus not be revealed at this sensitive stage. “To begin arresting the deep rooted corruption and mismanagement at the power utility‚ the board also decided to appoint the City’s Executive Director for Environmental and Infrastructure Services‚ Tiaan Ehlers‚ as Acting MD. The recruitment process for a new MD is currently underway and will be completed within the next 60 days.

“Going forward‚ our priority will be to bring stability to City Power as we finalise the appointment of a new MD‚” Mashaba added.

- TimesLIVE