DURBAN - Opposition parties have called on eThekwini municipal manager Sipho Nzuza to “do the right thing” and resign.
The parties said this after an order was granted by Durban Commercial Crime Court magistrate Garth Davis stating that Nzuza could not act as an “accounting officer” in the eThekwini Municipality up until his criminal trial was over – meaning he could not work as a municipal manager.
Nzuza told The Daily News on Tuesday that he planned to appeal the matter.
DA executive council member Thabani Mthethwa said it was clear the municipality did not have a city manager. “He must just do the right thing and resign. If he does not resign, we will look at our legal avenues.”
Mthethwa said millions of rands was wasted on paying his salary when he was not working.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi also wanted Nzuza to resign. “If he was man enough he would resign,” he said.
Nkosi said the problem was that the corruption charges he faced were so extensive that Nzuzu’s wife Bagcinele was one of the accused. Nkosi did not understand why Nzuza wanted to return to the municipality – “unless he was being misled by people who were close to him who were encouraging him to fight the matter”.
There was also the issue of stability in the municipality. Nkosi said as long as Nzuza was the municipal manager, there would be no stability. He said it was not right that taxpayers were paying for Nzuza and acting municipal manager Sipho Cele at the same time.
In court on Tuesday, Nzuza had made an application to have his bail conditions amended. However, magistrate Davis said that Nzuza was not allowed to communicate with witnesses and enter the premises where the witnesses worked.
Furthermore, Nzuza was “not to participate directly or indirectly in any tender process during the duration of this criminal trial… The accused shall not participate directly or indirectly in any or all supply chain management processes, irrespective of the amount of the tender award value of the tender concerned”.
According to the the order, “the accused may not perform the functions of the Accounting Officer of the Municipality until the criminal trial is concluded”. This meant that Nzuza could not work as a municipal manager until the end of the trial.
The embattled municipal manager, who is out on R50 000 bail, faces fraud and corruption charges with former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and 19 other co-accused that stem from a R430 million Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender.
Nzuza said he was disappointed by the court outcome, but he would be appealing the matter at the Durban High Court. He would not respond to the calls by opposition parties for his resignation because he was not a politician. “I am just an administrator,” Nzuza said.
EThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda’s spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said the mayor was still studying the order and could not comment.
Daily News