Pretoria - Former Nelson Mandela Bay city manager, Johann Mettler, was finally appointed as an administrative head in Tshwane metro during today’s council sitting, which took place virtually.
The appointment was approved despite protests from councillors that the online platform did not afford them a chance to participate in the voting process.
The sitting was a continuation of last Thursday’s ordinary council sitting, which was reconvened after a process to table a report by mayor Randall Williams to appoint Mettler was postponed.
Council Speaker, Dr Muruwa Makwarela, postponed the meeting before council could vote on a proposed amendment by the EFF to withdraw Williams’ report and restart the recruitment process by re-advertising a city manager vacancy.
Makwarela said the meeting was adjourned because the environment was not conducive to proceed despite his attempts, which included having a meeting with whips of all political parties and agreeing on the way forward.
Yesterday, the EFF reiterated its position and included other amendments, adding that the recruitment process was “not fair” and threatened to approach the courts for recourse should the report be passed in its original form.
Despite the party’s objections to the report, voting finally took place and at least 107 councillors voted against its proposed amendment while 58 were in favour of it.
The voting outcome, according to Makwarela, meant that a recommendation to appoint Mettler was “carried”.
The ANC, EFF and the Republican Conference of Tshwane had registered their dissenting votes against the appointment.
The appointment was approved despite protest from some councillors that they were excluded from taking part in the process.
ANC chief whip Aaron Maluleka said: “Much earlier when we started the meeting we raised issues around voting. We requested that there are people in the boardroom and therefore we requested that your numbers might not tally. We asked earlier on that you consider other methods of verifying voting . The numbers that you read might not tally with people present in this meeting.”
He said at least five ANC councillors did not vote, but Makwarela said there was no one in the boardroom.
ActionSA chief whip Sizwe Skhosana said: “We are also facing the same technical problem. I have a few councillors who have technical issues in terms of voting.”
Yesterday, Williams said the recruitment process was transparent and fair.
“All applicants and shortlisted candidates were subjected to a very rigorous and robust council-approved process, which includes competency assessments and security vetting. Mr Mettler emerged as the top candidate based on his performance during the interview and competency assessment stages, his experience in local government and his qualifications,” he said.
Mettler, an attorney by profession and a seasoned administrator with more than 20 years’ experience in local government, was appointed on a fixed-term period of five years.
Williams said the metro was facing many challenges and required an experienced administrator who would hit the ground running.
The city had been without a full-time city manager for almost three years and Williams said Metter’s appointment would “restore administrative stability and good governance to take the City forward”.
Pretoria News