KNYSNA POLITICAL NEWS - The Knysna Ratepayers Association (KRA) has joined the dispute between the DA and ANC in Knysna over the appointment of Dr Sandile Ngqele as director of Community Services on 29 April, claiming that Ngqele has never before been appointed as a director or section 76 manager.
In a statement on Friday, KRA said Ngqele should not have been shortlisted, let alone appointed, “for he fails to satisfy the municipality’s advertised requirements - finish en klaar.”
In a press statement last week DA Knysna Constituency Head Dion George said Ngqele lacked senior managerial experience and his appointment could result in a costly dispute for the municipality.
ANC secretary for the Southern Cape Major Sokopo disputed the claims and called for the DA to go back and check their facts.
KRA said in its experience, Knysna municipal directors have always been appointed in council meetings that are open to the public. However, on 29 April, at the same time that ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa was eating humble pie before the Zondo Commission about his party’s cadre deployment and how it had enabled state capture, the appointment of Knysna municipality’s director of Community Services was made behind closed doors.
“There is a local practice that personal information relating to the applicants is occasionally relegated to “Green Pages”, an agenda and a meeting that are closed to the public. This practice is questionable, however, as the public has a right to information about applicants for a director’s position.
"Any candidate who applies for an important position with a public entity should have nothing to hide, and potential applicants who have skeletons in their closet are always free not to apply,” said KRA.
“Had the DA not issued a press release about the sneaky and patently unlawful appointment of Dr Ngqele as director of Community Services, we, the long-suffering public, would have been none the wiser. Whereas the public has been deprived of access to the report that served before Council, KRA has been able to satisfy itself from press releases by both the DA and the ANC, that the appointment was patently unlawful.”
The association said this is not about political squabbling - the plain facts set forth in the DA’s press release have not been rebutted.
“The LinkedIn account of Dr Ngqele, and the ANC’s press release, leave us convinced that the appointee should not even have been shortlisted, never mind appointed, for he failed to comply with the municipality’s advertised requirements for the post. It is trite law that an organ of state is bound by its advertised requirements for a post, and may not shortlist or hire a person who does not qualify,” said KRA.
The advertisement for the director’s post required seven years’ relevant experience at senior and middle management level, of which two should be at senior management level.
“It is common cause that Dr Ngqele has never been appointed as a director or section 76 manager. Accordingly, he should not have been shortlisted, let alone appointed, for he fails to satisfy the municipality’s advertised requirements,” KRA stated.
It said eyebrows were also raised when the ANC and their enablers voted to appoint Bitou Director of Community Services, TM Sompani, to the selection panel.
“Sompani was formerly director of Community Services in Knysna, but was dismissed for misconduct involving dishonesty in about 2007, in the good old days, when Dave Daniels was our municipal manager and there was still good governance and accountability in Knysna. We braced ourselves for a bad outcome, and it seems our fears have been confirmed by events.”
Related article: DA slams selection of Director Ngqele
The association said it has requested reasons for this dubious appointment from the municipality and will decide whether to take that decision on review to the High Court once they have received the information.
“A decision to go to court will not be taken lightly, but recent history has taught us what to expect from cadre deployment. Our town cannot afford this. We deserve better. We hope it will not be necessary to go to court, and that the Knysna Council will rescind or take its own decision on review.”
KRA said if it is left with no option but to approach the court to set aside this decision, it shall be asking for personal cost orders against each councillor who voted for the unlawful appointment, as well as each and every councillor who enabled the decision by abstaining from voting.
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