• Dr Kgoshi Lucas Pilusa says he’s still on duty because he received no suspension letter.
• He heard about the “purported suspension” in the streets, which he says is politically motivated. 
• The municipal manager says the council uses him as a scapegoat to remove Mayor Merriam Malatji. 
• He says the purported charge of failing to award a security tender is baseless because he does not sit on the bid evaluation and adjudication committees. 

A Limpopo municipal manager has denied claims that the council has suspended him, saying he is still in office because he has received no suspension letter. 

Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality’s accounting officer, Dr Kgoshi Lucas Pilusa, says he will take legal action should he be suspended illegally and for dubious reasons. Speaking to African Times on Tuesday after the Democratic Alliance released a statement welcoming “the precautionary suspension of the Municipal Manager, Dr Pilusa”, Dr Pilusa dismissed his alleged suspension as prosperous. 

According to the DA statement, a special council meeting on September 19 resolved to “place the municipal manager on precautionary suspension for misconduct for a period of 30 days.” 

“It was further resolved to appoint an independent investigator within 7 days, to investigate Dr Pilusa’s failure to appoint a security company to replace the A Team security company whose contract ended on the 31 of August 2024; a contract which incurred irregular expenditure of R49 million that compromised the municipality’s audit outcomes for three years. Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality remains plagued by ANC mismanagement and fails to deliver basic services to [the] people,” said DA councillor Lebogang Rakoma. 

However, Dr Pilusa has disputed claims that the council suspended him, saying he is a victim of ANC political intrigue by some councillors aimed at removing Mayor Merriam Malatji for political reasons. 

“I just heard that I have been suspended but have not received any suspension letter. I just heard the noise on the road. I was on duty yesterday (Monday, September 23). I can’t stay home because people receive letters when suspended. I don’t know the reasons behind the purported suspension, but I heard I might be suspended because I failed to award a security tender,” said Dr Pilusa. 

He said it was prosperous to accuse him of failing to award a tender when he did not sit on the bid adjudication and evaluation committees. Dr Pilusa said Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality’s bid adjudication committee could not sit and award the three-year tender, worth over R50 million, because of sabotage by two senior managers who worked in cahoots with some politicians.

He maintained that bid adjudication committee members used delaying tactics to ensure the tender was not awarded until it lapsed. Dr Pilusa said the senior manager for community services, Thabo Hlongwane and the senior manager for technical services, Elizabeth Motlalepula Mphachue, “decided to get sick” on the day the adjudication committee was supposed to meet, resulting in it not reaching a quorum.  

“The tender expired, but we went to the council and requested an extension. The real issue is that I don’t sit on the adjudication committee or evaluation. Some people sit in there. The noise might be there, but people know the problem. The adjudication did not sit and decide. They met but did not conclude. They then referred the matter back to the evaluation committee. The process was moving to and fro. Remember, I don’t sit on both committees.”

“They must decide and give me a decision. During the last day of the tender, two of the senior managers [Thabo Hlungwani and Elizabeth Motlalepula Mphachue] decided to be sick and disappeared. I tried to phone them, sent them emails and Whatsapps saying, ‘people, please meet and adjudicate’. They had promised to finalize it but disappeared just like that. One of them is Hlongwani, and the other is Mpahchue,” added Dr Pilusa.

He said he would have no option but to seek legal recourse should he be suspended. 

“I think I will take it up legally. I don’t think all municipal managers who did not appoint, whose tenders lapsed, have been fired or suspended. There are other things that they could have suspended me for if I molested money or abused money. But nothing is missing. It’s only that they frustrated the appointment of the service provider. And I think my colleagues did it purposely. Somebody told them they should not sit, or there is something that happened which I am not aware of,” he said. 

Dr Pilusa added that he was a victim of a politically motivated sabotage campaign targeting Mayor Malatji.

“Sabotage has been there since I have been in the municipality. They have been sabotaging a number of things. At some point, they all took leave, the people working on this tender. I believe it’s also political. I may be used as a scapegoat when they know their target is my boss. I report to the mayor. If you recall, they started by claiming that I did not qualify for the position. I don’t have this and that. They are just trying to smear me because they want certain things,” Dr Pilusa said. 

He said he could not rule out the possibility that those gunning for him are also motivated by the fights over lucrative tenders. 

Jonas Mahesu, the spokesperson for the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, referred enquiries to Mayor Malatjie, who declined to comment. Norman Mashabane [Mopani] ANC regional spokesperson Peter Ngobeni refused to comment immediately but promised to do so on Wednesday. 

ANC sources in the region said Ba-Phalaborwa Municipal Council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss Dr Pilusa’s alleged illegal suspension. They claimed Speaker Oliver Mabunda and Chief Whip Didodo Rapatsa were instrumental in the council resolution against Dr. Pilusa. Mabunda and Rapatsa could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. 

The saga comes amid heightened political tensions in the region ahead of the upcoming conference. Incumbent regional chairperson Pule Shayi, Mopani District Municipality Mayor, and ANC regional secretary Goodman Mitileni are vying for the top post.

Mayor Malatji appears on Mitileni’s top five slate as a regional treasurer. The conference was due in September this year.  However, the Limpopo ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) postponed it until further notice, pending a final decision by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).