EXECUTIVE Mayor Solly Msimanga leaves the City of Tshwane at a very bad time. His DA went to great lengths to explain why he had to leave - to focus on leading its charge to win Gauteng in the general elections.
No doubt, being Gauteng premier is a bigger fish to fry for Msimanga, but boy, what a time to be jumping ship just as it hits stormy waters.
You see, Msimanga had been at loggerheads with city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola for a while now, the feud triggered off by the mayor’s call for his head after red lights flashed on the GladAfrica tender issue.
At the time, Mosola defiantly declared the R12billion contract above board. Even when both the preliminary report by independent investigators from Bowmans, and the second from the Auditor-General nailed him, he insisted he had done nothing wrong. In fact, he shifted the blame to Msimanga, saying the mayor was on a witch-hunt. Mosola also called the Bowmans report bogus.
During an August 2018 media briefing, he stated categorically that all was above board with the contract. However, the Auditor-General differed with Mosola, forcing him to concede that the contract was indeed irregular.
When Msimanga tried to force the council’s hand to suspend Mosola, he failed. Mosola had political backing from the official opposition ANC, which seemed confused and unable to make up its mind on which side of the fence it wanted to be. The same can be said about the EFF kingmakers.
Both opposition parties either agreed with Mosola, or disliked the mayor so much that they refused to authorise his proposal. During that time, the relationship between the political head of the metro and the man in charge of the administration hit rock-bottom.
Now that the Auditor-General has nailed Mosola, the ANC wants him gone. The EFF has not said much, possibly waiting for instruction from the Julius Malema-led Central Command Team.
This week’s ordinary council sitting is no longer that ordinary and an occasion to elect a successor to Msimanga anymore. The GladAfrica matter is set to dominate proceedings. Msimanga should have stayed on to see this process through and settle his differences with Mosola once and for all.
But the matter should not end here; insiders say Mosola was hellbent on forging ahead with GladAfrica in November 2017 to a point where he reportedly ignored all advice and awarded the tender. There has to be accountability; the public needs to know what and who pressured Mosola to forge ahead with Glad-
Africa when the City was looking for service providers, and for what reason.
It is unfortunate that all this will unfold under a new executive mayor and not Msimanga.
Mosola is also under fire from unions for alleged inconsistency and contravention of recruitment policies. They say he contravened policies to get rid of employees he disliked. At the height of it all, he opted to initiate an audit of qualifications for all officials.
This was in reaction to a request by the mayor last year following the now infamous Marietha Aucamp scandal. Several others have been in Aucamp’s boat, but senior metro officials say, Mosola was initially focusing on getting rid of officials in the mayoral office, seen as the manifestation of the tensions between the two leaders.
Again, it is unfortunate that Msimanga is leaving. His departure deprives residents of a chance to see Msimanga and Mosola appearing side-by-side announcing the findings of these investigations. All eyes are now on Thursday when council is expected to elect the new executive mayor.