The troubled Dannhauser Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal is in hot water after it appointed a less qualified official to act in the vacant position of municipal manager.
The ANC-CFP-EFF coalition led municipality plucked Lungelo Gcabashe from her position as the director for technical services to hold the fort pending legal battles with suspended municipal manager, Mandla Sithole.
The appointment had to be approved by the province’s MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi.
In a leaked feedback dated 23 December 2024, Buthelezi said Gcabashe is not suitable for the position as she lacks the required experience. She has only one year and eight months of senior management experience.
The municipal manager position requires someone with five years of experience at senior management level.
“In line with the abovementioned minimum requirements, a municipal manager must have a minimum of five years relevant experience at senior management level. Based on the information at the Department’s disposal, it is recorded that Mrs. L. P. Gcabashe has experience of 1 year and 8 months at senior management level.
“By virtue of Mrs. Gcabashe lacking the 5 years’ experience at senior management level, she does not meet the experience criteria stipulated in the Regulations. The appointment of Mrs. L. P. Gcabashe as the Acting Municipal Manager at the Dannhauser Local Municipality is, therefore, not supported,” Buthelezi wrote to Mayor Bongani Hadebe and instructed the council to take corrective measures.
Hadebe told the African Times that Gcabashe was the only qualifying candidate as the other one, Danisile Mohapi, has outstanding disciplinary issues CoGTA has instructed them to deal with.
“[It’ was] only [the] CFO who qualified, there are issues that Cogta need[s] the council to address regarding [the] CFO. Even Jobe (MM Sithole) he normally appoint[ed] her to act in his absentia,” Hadebe said when asked why they appointed Gcabashe.
Meanwhile, Buthelezi has once again written to the Dannhauser council instructing the structure to implement findings against Mohapi. A disciplinary committee and an independent legal opinion found Mohapi guilty in an unspecified case she was implicated in. Both the municipality and Buthelezi have refused to explain the charges for which Mohapi was found guilty.
Despite this, the council set aside the findings and brought her back without having a court order setting aside the findings.
Buthelezi has told them to implement the findings or else he will take them to court to have an order that compels them to do so.
“This delay in addressing the matter is concerning, especially given the statutory obligations imposed by the Local Government: Disciplinary Regulations for Senior Managers, 2010. The Department is further concerned that the Council meeting scheduled for 3 December 2024, to deliberate on the matter, did not take place.
“Your Municipality is therefore requested to urgently provide a written update on the actions taken in response to the directive on 23 August 2024. Should your Council fail to take remedial action, I will be left with no alternative but to approach the court to apply for an order to compel the Council to comply,” Buthelezi told the council in a letter dated 23 December 2024.
