Knysna appointments go ahead in spite of court action

Update

KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Council reappointed Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Londiwe Sotshede at a special council meeting held on Tuesday 14 February amid strong opposition from both the DA and the Knysna Independent Movement (Kim).

The ruling ANC-led coalition voted 11 to 10 to endorse the council decision, in spite of a pending High Court action by Western Cape Local Government Minister Anton Bredell over the appointments of Sotshede and Acting Director of Corporate Services, Adv Luvuyo Loliwe.

On Tuesday 14 February, Bredell's urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for an interim interdict, pending the hearing of the main application, was dismissed by council on the grounds that the matter was not urgent.

The second part of Bredell's application seeks to set aside the initial council resolutions that effected the appointments – and includes a request for a cost order.

The court has not pronounced on the merits of Bredell's application, which will be determined at a later date. Bredell has described Sotshede's appointment as invalid.

At this weeks's special council meeting, the DA and Kim opposed two of the three items on the agenda - Sotshede's reappointment and raising the upper pay limit for the new municipal manager, Ombali Sebola, to R1,4m. The third item was the re-advertising of the posts of directors of Corporate Services and Development Planning & Integrated Human Settlements, which was supported by all councillors.

Acting Director of Corporate Services Luvuyo Loliwe

Kim proposed the lower limits for Sebola due to his scoring and competency levels. Both the DA and Kim voted against the coalition proposal for the upper limits of R1,4m salary for Sebola.

"In terms of the determination of upper limits Sebola, if his appointment were ratified, would lawfully only be entitled to the minimum scale," said DA Ward 9 Councillor Sharon Sabbagh.

"Both he and the coalition are aware of this and notwithstanding this they proceeded to unlawfully award him the maximum scale at a time our cash-strapped municipality can ill afford it."

She said the DA would be challenging both Sotshede and Loliwe's appointments, as they allegedly "either lack the requisite qualifications and/or senior management experience required for the job".

According to Sabbagh, Sebola's selection process was flawed and his appointment is unlawful because he ranked third with only a basic score, whereas the other two candidates both scored higher.

Kim said in a statement that it was studying the court papers filed in Bredell's High Court Action.

"It is clear that once again, the municipality has provided the court with inaccurate and misleading information. Mr Sebola's affidavit states that no councillor questioned Sotshede's qualifications or Loliwe's experience. This is of course patently false. Susan Campbell questioned both on numerous occasions," said the Kim statement.

"Sebola also states that Sotshede does in fact have the requisite NQF 8 qualification. If so, why has her qualification not been produced to council, and why did the ruling coalition + EFF vote to ask the minister to provide exemption from the NQF 8 qualification requirement, and allow Knysna to advertise for an NQF 7 to fill the post? All in all, a sad day for Knysna Council, and an even sadder day for Knysna's taxpayers, with an unqualified director still illegally in charge of the municipality's finances."

Municipal response

Knysna Mayor Ndoda Aubrey Tsengwa said, in response to questions from KPH, that the council was aware of the court case.

"However, before the extension of the acting CFO's contract, the court case was struck off the roll and the council proceeded with the extension. The acting DCS's contract was not extended as it is set to lapse in March," he explained.

"Regarding the new municipal manager's salary, we would like to emphasise that it is in line with the new gazetted upper limits. Finally, the council would like to stress that the decision to appoint the municipal manager was based on the fact that the candidate met the requirements of the post."

Acting Chief Financial Officer Londiwe Sotshede