Durban - THE IFP said the “supposed” progress in dealing with eThekwini Municipality’s backlog of disciplinary cases “could not be trusted due to the lack of transparency around the issue”.
The party was reacting to a recent executive committee (exco) report which stated that over 100 cases, including fraud and corruption, had been resolved as of February 29.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the manner in which the cases were dealt with did not “inspire trust and fairness”.
“How can we trust processes that are decided under secrecy? We don’t get updates on what happens to officials under investigation for corrupt activities.
“Even the deal between the city and the company contracted to handle the disciplinary processes is questionable. The amount of money paid to the company escalated to millions within a month and no explanation has ever been given on that,” Nkosi said.
The report, tabled during an online exco meeting, stated that 162 cases were resolved as at February 29, and 90 of these cases were formal hearings and 72 informal hearings.
This is an improvement on the case backlog from October 31 last year, which was sitting at 336, 236 of which were formal hearings and 100 informal hearings.
According to the report, there were still 174 outstanding cases to be resolved.
In February, the Daily News reported that the city hired the accounting and auditing firm at a cost of R39 million over 24 months. Of the total amount, R18.2m would go to conducting legal research on any points of law raised during the proceedings.
At the time, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union had threatened court and strike action, alleging there was no proof that proper processes were followed when the firm was appointed by the city to handle the disciplinary processes.
DA caucus leader Nicole Graham said they were glad there was some movement on the cases.
“The problem is that there isn’t any detail in terms of understanding exactly what was dealt with or what the sanctions against the accused were.
“The city’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy, which guides these actions, says that there has to be a publication of sanctions, there have to be charges laid and there has to be an attempt to recover costs.
“We’ve been requesting for a long time that there be a more detailed explanation given when we receive these reports so we can play oversight,” she said.
Malusi Mhlongo, head of the Legal and Compliance Unit, said a number of steps had been taken to resolve the disciplinary cases backlog.
These included rendering the disciplinary board more effective in order to clear the backlog, as well as dealing urgently with cases where employees had been on special leave or suspended for a lengthy period while receiving a salary.
He said these cases would be finalised within the next month.