Vatala's resignation bittersweet for KRA

KNYSNA NEWS - The municipality announced the resignation of former municipal manager, Dr Sitembele Vatala, on Tuesday 24 August. This was four days after the office of Knysna Mayor Elrick van Aswegen received the resignation letter from Vatala.

He will be appointed as the new municipal manager within the Central Karoo District Municipality, and his resignation from Knysna is with immediate effect.

Prior to his resignation Vatala was due to face a continuation of his disciplinary hearing between 14 and 16 September, but according to a municipal notice issued last week, "the disciplinary proceedings will automatically terminate should council accept the resignation of Dr Vatala with immediate effect".

The disciplinary hearing centres around various complaints brought against Vatala by the Knysna Ratepayers Association (KRA) as well as the Knysna Council. The KRA's complaints include serious allegations involving several properties, worth more than R60-million, as well as a housing tender of more than R30-million that was wrongly awarded by Dr Vatala.

This week the KRA expressed disappointment with the recent developments. "Whereas we are relieved that the municipality no longer has to pay Dr Vatala for sitting at home, we are extremely disappointed that the disciplinary hearing was not concluded before Dr Vatala's resignation," the organisation said in a statement earlier this week.

In Vatala's resignation letter he explained that the disciplinary hearing was first scheduled for August 2020 and that it took the municipality 18 months to institute the disciplinary enquiry.

The KRA disputes this. "These allegations are not only inaccurate but also contradictory, as the hearing was first set down for 12 May 2020, three months after Vatala's suspension," the KRA's statement read.

"Thereafter, for reasons best known to the municipality, the matter was delayed for a considerable period of time and the leading of evidence in the disciplinary hearing only commenced towards the end of 2020."

According to the KRA, its chairperson, Susan Campbell, testified at a disciplinary hearing regarding Vatala's suspension in March this year. "Her testimony was detailed, factual and lasted almost two days," the KRA said. "Thereafter, at the end of April, she was cross-examined for almost two days by Dr Vatala's legal representative. Her testimony went largely unchallenged, leaving Dr Vatala with a strong case to answer."

The hearing was then postponed to the end of May, but did not go ahead as planned due to Vatala's unavailability, as he suffered from stress according to the KRA. "For the four months between Campbell's testimony and his resignation, the hearing came to a grinding halt, while Dr Vatala continued to collect his monthly pay checks from the municipality," the KRA claims. "To the best of our knowledge, the delay of four months was entirely due to Dr Vatala not being available to proceed."

According to Vatala he would have wanted to present his case. "It is so unfortunate that I did not get the opportunity to present my side of the story on malicious and manipulated allegations/charges levelled against me by [the] Knysna Ratepayers Association," Vatala's resignation letter read. The KRA claims Vatala's "delaying tactics" contradicted this desire to present his case.

In his resignation letter Vatala claims that there are "...deep-rooted corruption activities that are embedded in the municipality…" and levels serious allegations against unnamed politicians, "pseudo-politicians" and councillors that involve water meters, interference in tenders, systemic corruption and the employment of incompetent officials.

The KRA requests that the municipality acts on Vatala's allegations if they are indeed true. "We call on the acting municipal manager [Dawie Adonis] to urgently obtain the names of the offending councillors and individuals from Dr Vatala and to report the matter to the South African Police Service," their statement reads.

"If there is any substance to these allegations, the current accounting officer has a legal duty to ensure that these councillors are held accountable and prevented from being re-elected by unsuspecting voters."

The KRA's statement concluded by stating that "hopefully" Vatala will provide his "full cooperation to ensure that those he alleges to be responsible for the endemic corruption he claims to have unearthed, are finally dealt with by our criminal justice system".