The eThekwini municipality has rejected an integrity commission recommendation to suspend deputy city manager Sipho Cele over alleged collusion with the ANC to bill the city for a Women’s Month launch that turned out to be an ANC Women’s League conference.
The city integrity and investigation unit (CIIU) investigated allegations of misused eThekwini taxpayers’ funds to pay for the ANCWL elective conference for R5,089,781.40.
However, a committee meeting, headed by eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda on Monday night, agreed “to remove a recommendation from the CIIU referring to the suspension but record the decision of the committee in favour of the deputy city manager not being suspended”.
“It is recommended that the deputy city manager not be suspended, as the misconduct does not meet the requirements for precautionary suspension outlined in Regulation 6 of the Local Government: Disciplinary regulations for senior managers, 2010, so there is no requirement for him to submit written representation,” the committee decided after its deliberations.
In its investigation, the CIIU found “supply chain management process was not followed for the procurement of the venue for the Women’s Month launch” at the Durban ICC.
Furthermore, the deputy city manager admitted that he retained the booking at the DICC, while “the ANC was raising funds to pay for the venue”.
The CIIU concluded there was no money paid by eThekwini municipality to the ICC for the ANCWL conference, but that the ICC would not have given the venue over for the ANCWL conference without the signed agreement from Cele. This refers to a memorandum of understanding in which the city committed to pay R5,089,781 towards a Women’s Month launch.
The CIIU also found that “the image of eThekwini municipality was tarnished by negative media publicity, and that the ICC conducted a normal business transaction by ensuring that come what may, their payment is secured by the agreement”.
Based on the preliminary findings, the CIIU recommended that Cele be disciplined for contravening the Constitution, Local Government: Municipal Systems Act and supply chain management policy.
According to the committee’s supplementary agenda, seen by TimesLIVE Premium, the committee supported the recommendations of the CIIU “except the one referring to suspension”.
The committee instead recommended that authority be granted for the city manager, on behalf of the municipal council, to appoint an independent investigator to probe the allegations of misconduct made against the Cele.
The investigator has been directed to submit, within 30 days of appointment, a report with recommendations to the city manager, who will then table it to the municipal council.
The committee determined that this would help decide whether to institute disciplinary proceedings against the deputy city manager and to determine the seriousness of the alleged misconduct, and which disciplinary process to follow, if any.
ActionSA, which blew the whistle on the alleged collusion, said it cannot comment on committee discussions.
However, it has sought to compel the eThekwini municipality to release its report on its investigation into a Women’s Month launch that never took place.
The party has since applied to access the report via the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
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