Storm around Bitou municipal manager still raging

Update

BITOU NEWS - The storm around the reappointment of the Bitou Municipality’s municipal manager, who was dismissed from the same municipality over financial misconduct in 2012, is still raging, despite the Labour Court’s finding last month that his reappointment was indeed illegal.

The AUF and ANC coalition voted during a special in-committee council meeting on 19 February to contest the judgment.

The matter pertains to the irregular appointment of Lonwabo Ngoqo as municipal manager, as well as the irregular payment of R781 184 to Ngoqo in February 2019.

The council decided to appoint Ngoqo despite the fact that he had been dismissed from the very same municipality in 2012 after disciplinary proceedings found him guilty of financial misconduct.

Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell took the matter to court after exhausting all other options and challenged the legality of the actions taken by Council.

In terms of legislation, a municipal manager who is found guilty of serious financial misconduct by a disciplinary hearing, must be placed on a register and is not allowed to be appointed as a municipal manager for the next ten years.

This was apparently ignored. As a check and balance, the appointment of a municipal manager must be approved by the relevant MEC for local government. Bredell objected to the approval but the council resisted, which forced the MEC to enforce his decision via the courts.

In August 2019 the labour court ruled in Bredell's favour. The court found that the decision taken by the council was unlawful. It ordered that the settlement agreement between the municipality and Ngoqo, as well as Ngoqo's appointment as municipal manager, be set aside.

The municipality then took the matter on appeal.

The judgment in that appeal was delivered via e-mail on 11 February, informing the parties that the appeal had been dismissed with costs.

This is once again being appealed.

DA caucus leader in Bitou Bill Nel said the party wanted a cost order to be filed following the decision to appeal the recent judgment.

“The millions in legal costs to keep Ngoqo in power started in 2011 already. These utterly wasteful expenses just keep mounting, to the ire of citizens at every level in Bitou society,” Nel said.

He added that the DA in Bitou had requested Bredell to file for a cost order against Ngoqo and the AUF/ANC councillors who voted in favour of the appeal.