‘Phalatse hid report clearing Brink’: Joburg speaker Colleen Makhubele on DA 'cadre deployment'

City of Johannesburg speaker Colleen Makhubele says former mayor Mpho Phalatse concealed a forensic report clearing the acting city manager of wrongdoing because she wanted her preferred candidate to take the position.

This follows her tabled recommendations regarding the manner in which Floyd Brink was booted out of the job and put on special leave.

“The previous mayoral committee obstructed council from approving the appointment of Brink as the city manager.

“This is because on November 16 2022, I was alerted to various documents which indicated that in the past 15 months councillors Leah Knott and Mpho Phalatse championed the implementation of cadre deployment practices of the DA, and its underhanded tactics to appoint their party preferred candidate in the position of the city manager,” read a statement by Makhubele. 

“These underhanded tactics involved manipulation of the recruitment process in favour of a candidate who may have been known and/or highly regarded by the deployment committee and/or powers in the DA,” she added. 

She said the recruitment process identified two preferred candidates who were recommended for employment.

“However, while the deployment of the DA’s preferred candidate was pending, it was publicly reported by ActionSA that before the interviews, the said candidate and councillor Phalatse had a secret meeting, which may have given him an advantage.

“The council was deprived of learning that the DA’s preferred candidate had disqualified himself from being considered because he failed to make a material disclosure of his meeting with councillor Phalatse.

“When they became aware that the investigation process of MJS [Attorneys] is likely to not make negative findings against Brink, they moved with speed on August 5 2022, and compiled, signed, submitted and presented a report to council to re-advertise the position on the basis that Brink failed the vetting requirements, while knowing that the MJS investigation was still ongoing,” said Makhubele.

The row involves an investigation into noncompliance after Brink allegedly approved two transactions, of more than R300m and R20m respectively, to buy CCTV equipment and hand-held devices.

Brink was cleared by a forensic report.

TimesLIVE has reached out to Phalatse on the allegations. She is yet to respond. 

TimesLIVE

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