Johannesburg - Johannesburg’s new mayor, Herman Mashaba, has reportedly fired Pikitup MD Amanda Nair.
Nair had been accused of corruption by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, and the city’s failure to remove her was one of the reasons it went out on strike for weeks earlier this year.
Nair was cleared of corruption charges last year after she was arrested for alleged theft of the company’s official cellphones, which were allegedly irregularly issued to her and her children.
Matshidi Mfikoe, a member of the mayoral committee responsible for the environment and infrastructure services portfolio, earlier this year said the city could not “suspend” Nair without following proper processes.
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In July, an investigation into her conduct found that Nair did not always act with honesty and integrity when dealing with the affairs of the City of Joburg’s waste-collection entity.
She misled the board, misrepresented facts and irregularly appointed independent consultants, some of whom had a previous working relationship with her, it found.
The report points to the board’s questioning of how an employee who was working in Pikitup’s IT department, Donovan Denyssen - who was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing in 2013 - came to be reinstated.
A 2013 investigation into Denyssen had revealed that Pikitup incurred a loss of R33 237 as a result of Denyssen’s misconduct, after he was found to have given the entity’s cellphones to Nair and a close relative of his without following proper procedure.
It was recommended that Nair repay the money and disciplinary action be taken against Denyssen. He resigned but was dismissed in absentia after being found guilty.
Mashaba had vowed, before the local government elections on August 3, to break the entity up and privatise thee parts. He later said Pikitup would not be privatised.
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