Mhlathuze Water boss finally axed over dodgy tenders - three years after his suspension

24 January 2019 - 15:33 By Bongani Mthethwa
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
The board of Mhlathuze Water in Richards Bay announced on Thursday that it had axed CE Sibusiso Makhanya.
The board of Mhlathuze Water in Richards Bay announced on Thursday that it had axed CE Sibusiso Makhanya.
Image: iStock

The chief executive of Mhlathuze Water Sibusiso Makhanya has been axed three years after he was suspended. 

The newly appointed Mhlathuze Water board announced on Thursday that Makhanya’s contract has been terminated with immediate effect. 

Makhanya was suspended by the previous board in 2015 after a forensic investigation made findings of impropriety and tender irregularities against him.

He was suspended by former board chair Dudu Myeni but Makhanya successfully challenged his suspension in court, arguing that the board that suspended him was illegally constituted by former water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane.

At the time he was also embroiled in a fight with Mokonyane over her decision to incorporate Mhlathuze into Umgeni Water.

City Press reported in January last year that Myeni allegedly took her board to five-star hotels and irregularly donated millions of rands in cash meant for charity to other causes, including Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s wedding.

The newspaper reported that in her capacity as chair of the Richards Bay-based Mhlathuze Water, Myeni also allegedly wasted hundreds of thousands of rands of the authority’s money on luxury foreign trips to international water conferences she then never attended.

In December 2016, the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled that Myeni would have to step down from the water authority’s board. The court found that she should have stepped down when her third and final term expired in February 2015 but Mokonyane extended her tenure to coincide with the board’s term and thereafter announced the merger of Mhlathuze and Umgeni to create a new entity.

Mhlathuze Water chair Thabi Shange said in addition to the findings of the forensic investigation, further allegations of misconduct relating to impropriety, maladministration and tender irregularities against Makhanya were brought to the attention of the current board which warranted his immediate dismissal.

Upon its appointment by new minister of water and sanitation Gugile Nkwinti in December, the new board  decided to resolve the long-outstanding issue of Makhanya after he had successfully challenged his suspension in court.

"As the board we carry the unambiguous mandate of ensuring that the highest ethical standards are kept at Mhlathuze Water and of engendering a culture of accountability and leadership stability at the utility. For this to happen, it was critical for us to finalise the long outstanding matter of the erstwhile chief executive," said Shange in a statement.

She said while the matter had taken some time to resolve, its closure would allow the organisation to move forward and focus on its mandate.

"The interim chief executive, Mthokozisi Duze, will continue in his position while the board concerns itself with permanently filling the vacancy which has arisen," said Shange.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now