DURBAN - Twenty-seven people who have been shortlisted for the eThekwini Municipality’s city manager post are expected to be interviewed by Friday.
The municipality advertised the post in December receiving more than 290 applications. A picture of the front runners has begun to emerge while the city wraps up interviews that began on Monday.
Among the top contenders for the lucrative position was the suspended uMkhanyakude District Municipality municipal manager Mxolisi Nkosi and Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality municipal manager Max Mbili. They were interviewed on Monday.
A source confirmed that other contenders are acting city manager Musa Mbhele and Sipho Cele, who acted in the position before Mbhele.
The candidates are interviewed by a panel that includes mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
Insiders told the Daily News on Thursday that councillors might have the final say on who gets the job that comes with a R3 million salary tag.
Mbili and Mbhele have considerable support in the province.
A small group was said to be punting for Nkosi whom they credited for resisting political pressure while he was in charge in Msunduzi and uMkhanyakude municipalities.
Since last year Nkosi has been at loggerheads with uMkhanyakude Municipality with what he termed “political interference” in his work. He has been in and out of court after he was placed on suspension.
On February 23, the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled in his favour, declaring his suspension invalid.
On Thursday, Nkosi told the Daily News that he was prevented from returning to his job, saying the municipality said it would appeal the ruling. Nkosi left Msunduzi unceremoniously in 2015 after he fell out with powers-that-be for apparently supporting the faction that wanted former premier and former ANC provincial chairperson Senzo Mchunu to retain his position in the 2015 conference.
Mchunu lost the race but the conference was set aside by the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Mbili, a former teacher at a further education and training college, was said to have performed well as Ray Nkonyeni’s municipal manager.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela confirmed that the interviews had taken place but refused to disclose the candidates’ names.
He said the city requested that the process be allowed to take its course, adding the city undertook to inform all stakeholders once the successful candidate had been identified.
The municipality has been without a full-time city manager for almost a year following the premature end of Sipho Nzuza’s term.
Allegations of corruption led to him being charged. The allegations are linked to a R300 million tender fraud case involving former mayor Zandile Gumede and several other city officials.
Daily News