Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya has come out to defend herself against DA claims that she unlawfully benefited from city funds, saying she “has nothing to hide”.
Moya has come under fire for allegedly receiving a R268,975.51 payment from the municipality in 2019 during her tenure as chief of staff in then-mayor Steven Mokgalapa's office.
According to Moya, this was paid to her as part of a benchmarking-related salary adjustment. She was one of 78 officials across the municipality who received backdated lump sums across affected salary bands.
However, the DA has launched a targeted campaign, accusing Moya of being “overpaid in salaries and payments”.
In a letter to former mayor Cilliers Brink, which TimesLIVE has seen, Moya revealed how the DA, her former coalition partner, knew about the matter and shoved it under the carpet when they still had the reins.
“Your recent interest in this matter is surprising. As you are aware, the matter dates back to July 2019 and has been known within the city. It was, in fact, the subject of a formal directive issued in February 2021 by your former executive mayor, Randall Williams.
“Despite this, during your tenure as executive mayor from March 2023 to September 2024, no steps were taken to address the issue or implement any corrective measures. This remained the case after I raised the matter directly with you in July 2024, when I served as your deputy mayor.”
Moya took a swipe at the DA former MMC for finance, councillor Jacqui Uys, as well as Brink's former chief of staff, Jordan Griffiths, over public statements made attacking her on the matter.
“Both held senior positions at the time and, like yourself, failed to act on this matter when they were in office. In light of this, the current calls for transparency appear disingenuous at best and politically opportunistic at worst.”
In the letter, Moya told the former DA mayor and opposition leader Brink that the fault was the subject of a formal directive issued by Brink's predecessor, Williams.
“I remain committed to full transparency. The payments were authorised by the group head of human capital management pending the outcome of a citywide benchmarking exercise, which was finalised in July 2020. Importantly, I had already resigned from the city on 31 May 2020, before the benchmarking process was completed.”
Moya explained that any discrepancy between the amount paid in July 2019 and the final salary grading thus became apparent only after her departure, and she was not informed of the issue at the time.
“We have since confirmed that in February 2021, Williams issued a formal instruction which, inter alia, directed that cases involving increases paid to officials no longer in the city’s employ be reported to the mayoral committee and be dealt with in terms of section 32 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.”
The instruction was never implemented.
“To the best of our knowledge, no report was submitted to the mayoral committee during the terms of either mayor Williams or yourself, and no steps were taken to engage former employees, including myself, regarding repayment. This has led to the prescription of any alleged debt.
“In fact, I first became aware of the matter in July 2024, when I received an SMS from the city referencing an alleged debt. I immediately contacted the city administration to request clarification as I had no knowledge of any amount owed. I also shared the information with you at the time in your capacity as executive mayor.”
Moya said she has followed up regularly with the administration.
“After my election as executive mayor in October 2024, I escalated the matter to the city manager and requested that a report on the matter. This process remains ongoing, as each new batch of information has raised further questions, including why the issue remained unresolved for so long. If you have any information that could assist these efforts — based on your 18 months in office — I encourage you to share it with the city manager.”
She insisted that there is no liability that has been established against her.
“I remain confident in the integrity of my conduct, I have voluntarily authorised a monthly repayment to the city of Tshwane. I have taken this step in recognition that the office I hold demands a standard of leadership that is beyond reproach.”
The mayor said that city manager Johann Mettler can confirm that she has fully co-operated and has asked to not receive any special treatment.
“I have consistently called for the matter to be resolved all affected officials, something that was regrettably not pursued by my predecessors, including yourself. I note, however, that preliminary findings confirm that there is no evidence of wrongdoing by officials who received these payments in good faith.
“Rather, it is the broader political and administrative handling of the matter that warrants scrutiny.”
TimesLIVE
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