Showdown over future of Nelson Mandela Bay city manager expected on Thursday
A new Nelson Mandela Bay city council meeting was called for Thursday, a week earlier than planned, with political pressures rising for a decision on city manager Dr Noxolo Nqwazi's future within the metro.
The fallout from last week's meeting, which was scheduled to discuss the issue but abandoned because the reports were 'not ready', continues.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom has written to the acting city manager, Ted Pillay, to ask why money spent on the abandoned meeting should not be classified as fruitless and wasteful expenditure. He said the abrupt abandonment of the meeting was 'deeply concerning'.
Meanwhile, a legal opinion provided to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro by advocate Olav Ronaasen SC has advised the council to abandon its disciplinary hearing of Nqwazi.
She was put on precautionary suspension in late 2023 and again in early 2024, pending disciplinary action which had been instituted against her.
Ronaasen said he has been asked to advise on the viability of the disciplinary proceedings against Nqwazi and the status of the criminal proceedings against her to enable the council to reach an informed decision as to whether it should persist with the disciplinary proceedings or withdraw them and continue to pursue a settlement with her, in terms of which her employment with the municipality would terminate.
The disciplinary hearing against her has been put on hold pending negotiations for a settlement, but the National Treasury has refused to approve a departure which would allow a settlement to be paid, suggesting that the disciplinary proceedings should first be pursued to completion.
Nqwazi was arrested by the Hawks in September 2022, along with the metro's former human settlements director Norman Mapu, businessman Xolani Masela, his spouse Nwabisa, former Democratic Alliance councillors Trevor Louw, Neville Higgins and Victor Manyathi, and Nelson Mandela Bay ANC secretary Luyolo Nqakula.
They face charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act. It is alleged that kickbacks for a toilet tender awarded during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic were used to reward Louw, Higgins and Manyathi for voting for a motion of no confidence against former DA mayor Athol Trollip.
However, an application is pending for Nqwazi to be discharged after the close of the State's case, with her legal team arguing that the State had failed to lead any evidence against her.
Different charges
She is facing different charges at her disciplinary hearing.
It is alleged that she misled the council by failing to disclose that a PWC forensic report did not support allegations of financial misconduct against Anele Qaba — now CEO of the Mandela Bay Development Agency — which meant his suspension was unwarranted and should have been lifted.
Nqwazi's alleged failure, according to Ronaasen's opinion, was that she did not fully inform the council of the situation, which resulted in unauthorised and wasteful expenditure when a R3-million settlement was paid to Qaba.
The second charge against her is that she unsuccessfully took a Special Investigating Unit report about the toilet tender on legal review, resulting in unauthorised and wasteful expenditure for the municipality.
However, Ronaasen pointed out that Nqwazi performed both of these tasks under instruction from the council. As a result, he said, there was little chance of the disciplinary proceedings succeeding.
He advised the council to revisit its decision, withdraw the proceedings (subject to the Treasury's approval), and formalise the in-principle settlement reached with Nqwazi.
'It would be financially irresponsible to pursue prolonged disciplinary proceedings,' he said.
'I suggest that this opinion be submitted to the National Treasury as part of the municipality's motivation as to why the disciplinary proceedings should be withdrawn.'
However, Deputy Mayor Gary van Niekerk — who was frequently in conflict with Nqwazi during his tenure as mayor — said in a media statement issued on Tuesday that the city was at a crossroads 'for clean governance, accountability and the rule of law'.
He issued the statement just a day after Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe said in a memorandum that all communications from the political leadership in the metro must go through her.
She did not respond to a Daily Maverick request for comment.
'Efforts by opposition actors to engineer the return of suspended (and criminally charged) municipal manager Noxolo Nqwazi risk reversing the progress made towards stabilising governance in the metro,' said Van Niekerk.
'Legal wrangling over her suspension has dragged on while she has continued to draw a salary, and contests over her status have become a rallying point in broader power plays in council.'
Van Niekerk himself is facing criminal charges after allegedly using a council letterhead to obtain legal services for himself while he was speaker of the council — after Nqwazi had declared his seat vacant due to disputes in his former party, the Northern Alliance. He was found guilty at a disciplinary hearing, but earlier this week the MEC for cooperative governance, Zolile Williams, decided against removing Van Niekerk as a councillor and instead issued a reprimand.
Van Niekerk said the legal fees for Nqwazi's disputes with the council had reached R800,000, while 'the municipality spent more than R5-million paying her salary and those of successive acting city managers appointed during her suspension'. DM
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