Cape Town - The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) also known as the Hawks, is investigating how a senior director on the Stellenbosch Municipality was awarded a 10-year contract instead of the standard five-year one.
A Stellenbosch councillor, Franklin Adams of the Democratic New Civic Association, approached the Hawks and claimed the municipality’s director of corporate services, Annalene de Beer, received a 10-year contract for the position in the DA-run council.
Adams maintains that it’s a case of maladministration in the municipality and wrote to the provincial commander: serious corruption investigation at the Hawks, a Brigadier R Walters. He replied: “We’re giving attention to the matter and have taken note of your concern in this investigation.”
The councillor said he had been making queries to the council about the contract, but council officials had not given him a clear answer, “despite my having raised the issue several times over the past couple of years. It was this lack of answers that drove me to ask the Hawks to investigate.”
However in response to a query, Stellenbosch Municipality said: “The appointment of Annalene de Beer meets all procedural and substantial legal requirements. The advertisement for the post clearly indicated a term of five years or longer for the successful candidate. Council approved the appointment and did not place any limit on the term that could be negotiated. The Local Government MEC also approved the appointment, as is required by legislation.”
Annalene de Beer
Franklin Adams
Municipal communications manager Stuart Grobbelaar said: “The regulations on the appointment of senior managers, in terms of the Municipal Systems Act, allow permanent contracts or longer-term contracts (up until age of 65 and longer, if approved by the national minister) for section 56 managers. The 10-year period is definitely not illegal, nor even out of the ordinary for section 56 managers.
“The continued defamatory claims made against De Beer by the councillor are completely unfounded and vindictive attempts used in a deliberate smear campaign against her and the municipality,” said Grobbelaar.
@MwangiGithahu