KZN Cogta MEC hails Nquthu Municipality judgment involving invalid senior positions

This after a court ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday that set aside the appointment of three senior officials in the Nquthu Municipality.

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Published May 19, 2021

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DURBAN - THE KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, has called on municipalities to follow the law when appointing senior managers.

This after a court ruling by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday that set aside the appointment of three senior officials in the Nquthu Municipality.

The department said in a statement that the Pietermaritzburg High Court had ruled that the appointments by the Nquthu Municipality of an acting municipal manager, acting chief financial officer and acting director of planning, housing and land administration were invalid.

The departmemt said it had joined a court case brought by some Nquthu councillors to challenge the appointments after the municipality failed to rescind the appointments after the department had found that the processes had not been followed when the appointments were made.

It said the municipality had failed to adhere to proper procedures when it made the acting appointments

Spokesperson Senzo Mzila said Nquthu had failed to follow its own internal council processes when the appointments were made.

He said in the interest of strengthening good governance and acting in the interest of communities served by the municipality, the MEC joined the court action.

“The MEC for Cogta joined in this court action which was initiated by certain councillors within the Nquthu council who questioned the legality of these appointments, which they viewed to be in contravention of the municipality's standing rules,” said Mzila.

Hlomuka said that the judgment was a big win for accountability and transparency and should serve as a warning to municipalities that disregarding proper processes would not be tolerated.

Nquthu was placed under administration recently and had threatened to challenge the decision in court.

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