Johannesburg - City of Joburg member of the mayoral committee for public safety Mally Mokoena is still performing her duties despite being on a month’s suspension without pay.
Although she admitted to nepotism and fraud, Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning and Co-operative Governance, Lebogang Maile, said this happened in 2018 and no further complaints had been received and therefore did not warrant the suspension called for.
The Joburg council confirmed at its March meeting the guilty verdict handed down against Moekena for violating the code of conduct through fraud and nepotism. The ethics committee originally recommended dismissal from council, but former Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance, Dikgang Moiloa, decided on a lighter sentence.
“The fact that the decisions of a municipal council can be overruled by another sphere of government points to a fundamental weakness in the laws that regulate local government,” said DA councillor Michael Sun who is former MMC for public safety.
Despite the council confirming the guilty verdict, Mokoena has allegedly defied council and continues to perform the functions of MMC for Public Safety.The mayor has endorsed her defiance of council by appearing with her in public at several events, he said.
“While the MEC for Co-operative Governance may have watered down his comrade's sentence, a suspension without pay is still a sentence which has to be taken seriously,“ said Sun.
In response, Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning and Co-operative Governance, Lebogang Maile said Sun’s statement is factually incorrect and very misleading.
He explains that the Joburg council, at its August 2018 meeting, resolved to request the MEC to remove Mokoena in accordance with the code of conduct for councillors. The complaint was that Mokoena:
(a) Removed a hard-working administrator from her office without following human resources’ procedures in order to create employment for her niece;
(b) Allegedly gave her niece interview questions ahead of the interview, thus giving her an unfair advantage;
(c) Following a personal or domestic dispute with the employee (her niece), the councillor sought to remove her from her post and hired three (3) law firms to try and get rid of her niece at the municipality’s expense; and
(d) This was done against the advice of the city’s Legal Adviser who advised that the city did not have valid grounds of dismissal.
An integrity commissioner (IC) was tasked to investigate the matter who found that Mokoena had breached some of the code.
The council requested the MEC to remove Mokoena from office. She however, lodged an appeal with the MEC which, he said, is not in his position to consider.
The MEC, said Maile, can only act where a councillor has been warned, reprimanded or fined. Only a court has the jurisdiction to hear an appeal.
“My predecessor found the records showed the allegations to be unsubstantiated and concluded that they are frivolous, vexatious and malicious. He, however concurred with the findings that councillor Mokoena admitted to have personally initiated the secondment of Gabisile Zitha to the human resources department and facilitated the recruitment and appointment of Sizakele Mthembu, a friend to her daughter. This conduct was indeed found to be in violation of items of the code and could not be ignored.”
Mokoena at the time, occupied the important position of MMC: Group Corporate and Shared Services and should have been acutely aware that her conduct was wrong.
The Star