Pretoria - The departure of four of the 10 administrators from the City of Tshwane will not affect the service delivery mandate given to them when they were appointed by the provincial executive in March.
This was the assurance from head administrator Mpho Nawa, who said responsibilities carried by the previous administrators had been shared among those remaining.
“What I have done so far is to spread the responsibilities accordingly. I have taken some responsibilities as well,” he said.
Among the people who resigned was acting city manager Mavela Dlamini, whose responsibilities have been added to those of incumbent Mmaseabata Mutlaneng.
Dlamini resigned in July a day after a hostile late-night meeting with the SA Municipal Workers Union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union over workers’ salaries.
At the time Nawa said Dlamini, 69, had quit over health reasons.
Yesterday he said the administrators left for various reasons, which included having to return to their full-time jobs after 90 days in charge of the City in line with the Constitution.
“Remember this thing was supposed to last for 90 days, and then we went outside 90 days. Some of them would have requested for secondment from their work and then they have to go back to work,” Nawa said.
He was reacting to criticisms by the DA that among the remaining six administrators, only three were working. DA mayoral candidate Randall Williams said: “Lesedi Mere is nowhere to be seen, and despite continuing to receive his exorbitant salary, he seems to have abandoned his responsibilities and portfolio. The only remaining working administrators are Gilberto Martins, Rianda Kruger and Lefadi Makibinyane who have effectively taken on all of the work in the City.”
Others who resigned were Lebogang Mahaye, Thulisile Njapa-Mashanda and Shiva Makotoko.
Williams accused Nawa of outsourcing all his decisions to the ANC-led provincial government.
Nawa said: “One thing that the DA is missing in this process is that we are not working alone. There are other departments of government; Cogta (Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) and the provincial government comes in to help with other responsibilities. We now have a champion called Pravin Gordhan. We are spreading the responsibilities equally to other government departments.”
Gordhan, the Public Enterprises Minister, was deployed to the City in July to lead the district efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked if there were plans to replace those who resigned, Nawa said: “That role is the role of the provincial executive, not mine.”
Castro Ngobese, spokesperson for Local Government MEC Lebogang Maile, had yet to comment by time of publication late yesterday.
Pretoria News