The Deputy City Manager (DCM) for Trading Services in eThekwini Municipality, Sibusiso Makhanya, is on the verge of being suspended after the metro accused him of dereliction of duty, claiming that he failed to do his job and caused it to suffer R6.6 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
A report seen by “The Mercury” shows the amount was incurred in legal fees and interest after the City failed to defend a lawsuit lodged by one of its service providers. The report was tabled during a council meeting last week under confidential matters.
Makhanya told “The Mercury” on Monday that he was aware of the report and would be giving his side of the story soon. He has until September 6 to respond to the City.
“It would be improper for us to comment publicly on this before we have responded to the City, but we can say that this is a straightforward matter.”
Sources in the City said the allegations against Makhanya may not be purely about professional conduct, claiming that there was tension between senior managers and that could be a contributing factor to how this matter is handled.
Makhanya is the third senior official facing sanction over professional conduct accusations. Head of electricity Maxwell Mthembu was suspended earlier this year; the head of Parks and Recreation Dr Simphiwe Ndlovu was also suspended.
It was not immediately clear on Monday whether these suspensions are still in effect.
The report on allegations against Makhanya said: “The Executive Committee received information and deliberated on the allegations of misconduct against Makhanya. This relating to the dereliction of duty by Makhanya, which resulted in the Municipality incurring wasteful and fruitless expenditure in the amount of R6.6 million, which constitutes a material irregularity,” said the report.
Detailing the origins of the matter, the report said that in February 2024 the Legal and Compliance Unit official sent an email to the electricity unit and finance officials, advising that the municipality was being sued by a service provider for R63.5m as a result of unpaid invoices.
The electricity unit falls under Makhanya’s purview as the DCM for Trading Services. It said the Legal and Compliance Unit official was requesting the relevant electricity unit officials to issue instructions on how to defend this legal case, and also brought to their attention that the court date was set for April 3, 2024.
The instructions required in this regard, said the report, were whether the court application should be opposed or not, and if it was to be opposed, to furnish the Legal and Compliance Unit with the instructions by March 2024.
The report said there was no response from Makhanya, until a default judgment was entered against the municipality, in favour of the service provider in the amount of R63.5m plus interest and legal costs. It said Makhanya had claimed he had been unable to respond to the request because he had limited access to his emails and had only became aware of the court case on April 5, 2024.
However, the report said, the city manager (Musa Mbhele) claimed this was inconsistent with the established facts.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that DCM Makhanya had been responding to other emails during that period which was a clear indication that he had had access to emails, but had failed to respond to the requests for instructions.
“The alleged breach of duty by Makhanya rendered the Municipality liable for the payment of R63.5million, interest in the amount of R6.6million and legal costs. The judgment costs of R63.5million has since been paid, but the interest and legal costs remained outstanding.”
The report added that the interest of R6.6m constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which could have been avoided had Makhanya exercised the necessary care.
“As a result, funds which should go towards sustainable supply of electricity to municipal customers would have to be diverted due to his recklessness.
“The Executive Committee was informed that the level of recklessness associated with Makhanya’s alleged misconduct is considered gross and costly, the city manager then submitted a recommendation the DCM be placed on suspension.”
The report, adopted by council, recommended that authority be granted for the city manager, on behalf of the council, to appoint an independent investigator to probe allegations of misconduct against Makhanya. The investigator has 30 days to submit the report.
It added that the council determines that it intends placing Makhanya on precautionary suspension because his continued presence at work may be detrimental to the stability of the municipality.
Makhanya was given 7 days to make written representations on whether he should be placed on suspension or not.
A councillor, speaking on condition of anonymity said: “We have seen the report making the allegations, if what is in there is the truth, he has to account for it.”
The councillor said there is tension. “It seems there is a lot of personality clashes at senior management level; those people just don’t like each other, so maybe that is a factor to what is happening there.”
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana refused to comment on the matter, saying “eThekwini Municipality does not discuss employer-employee related matters with a third party.”
The Mercury