Durban - The Municipal and Allied Trade Union of South Africa (Matusa) has launched a court application to have the eThekwini Municipality’s city manager, Musa Mbhele, removed from his post on the grounds that he was irregularly appointed.
The union has filed court papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, seeking to have the city manager removed just two years into his tenure.
At the heart of the case is the claim that the interview panel that selected and recommended the city manager for appointment was improperly constituted and did not comply with the regulations governing the appointment of municipal managers.
The Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, is cited as the first respondent, Musa Mbhele as the second respondent, and the eThekwini Mayor, Cyril Xaba, as the third respondent. Notably, the eThekwini Municipality or its council is not cited as one of the respondents.
The Mercury has seen an affidavit deposed to by the union’s deputy president, Joseph Mabaso, in which he outlines the basis for challenging Mbhele’s appointment as city manager of eThekwini Municipality.
Mabaso said Matusa counts as its members many employees of the eThekwini Municipality and is entitled to bring this application in their interests.
The relief sought by the union is to set aside the appointment of the interview panel that recruited and selected the City manager.
It also seeks to review and set aside the appointment of Mbhele as the City manager. The application was filed this week in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Prior to the court challenge, the union had raised concerns about Mbhele’s appointment. The affidavit states that in May 2022, the council of the eThekwini Municipality approved the appointment of the selection panel to advise on the appointment of a suitable candidate for the city manager position.
The court papers list the individuals involved in the interview process, which included four councillors and one external person. Mbhele was successful in the interview process and assumed his duties on October 1.
Mabaso states that on November 20, the union became aware that Mbhele’s appointment may be irregular and it confirmed this through an investigation.
The union asserts that the constitution of the panel that appointed the city manager was irregular.
“The selection panel appointed in terms of regulations to make appointments for the vacancy of municipal manager or senior manager may not consist of more than two councillors in the case of the municipal manager and not more than one councillor in the case of the senior manager.”
“In this instance, the interview panel that interviewed the second respondent (Mbhele) consisted of four councillors, making his appointment irregular and unlawful, warranting review and annulment,” the court papers state.
“This application seeks to review and set aside the appointment of the selection panel responsible for recruiting and selecting the city manager, as well as to review and set aside the appointment of the second respondent, the city manager,” the affidavit explains.
Attached to the affidavit is a letter written by the union to MEC Buthelezi in November, citing the irregularities mentioned in the affidavit and calling for Mbhele’s removal.
The letter called on the MEC to bring legal action to review or set aside Mbhele’s appointment.
Asked by The Mercury about why the eThekwini Municipality was not cited in the matter, Mabaso said that they did not cite the eThekwini Municipality because the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) had the final say on the appointment of senior officials.
“Cogta is responsible for confirming the appointments of senior managers in municipalities. All that the municipality does is recommend a candidate for employment in that position.”
Mabaso concluded, “I can confirm that the application has been sent to court through our attorneys in Pietermaritzburg. The reason for choosing Pietermaritzburg is that the head office of Cogta is located there, and we have cited the (MEC) as the first respondent in the matter, as explained earlier, since the Cogta MEC is responsible for confirming the appointments of municipal managers and their deputies.”
Mayoral spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said he was not aware of the matter at this stage.
Approached for comment yesterday, Mbhele said he was not aware of the matter.
The Cogta MEC’s spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.