A Mayor’s Shield: Council Stalls on Firing Unqualified Municipal Manager

In a brazen act of defiance, the Madibeng local municipality is shielding its top official from the consequences of a damning independent audit that found his appointment was illegal and that he lacks the basic qualifications for the job.

The report, which declares Municipal Manager Quiet Kgatla’s appointment “null and void,” was tabled before the council on 20 November. Instead of heeding its findings and firing Kgatla, councillors have chosen to stall, referring the matter back to the very MEC who had already ordered the appointment be reversed.

This move has ignited a political firestorm, with opposition parties accusing the council leadership of deliberately protecting Kgatla by blocking meetings and preventing a vote on his removal.

An Appointment Riddled with Irregularities

The audit committee’s review left no room for doubt, uncovering a hiring process that violated the Municipal Systems Act and was riddled with flaws:

• Unqualified: Kgatla does not hold the legally required bachelor’s degree in public administration, political science, social sciences, or law. His accounting-related qualifications were deemed insufficient.

• Flawed Panel: The interview panel was improperly constituted. Of five members, only two actually scored the candidates.

• Unfair Exclusion: Several qualified candidates were incorrectly excluded from the shortlist for reasons like “lack of experience” or “age.”

• Skipped Vetting: Mandatory security vetting was not conducted before interviews took place.

The committee concluded that the entire process was legally flawed and exposed the municipality to significant governance and financial risk. Their primary recommendation was simple: annul the appointment and start over.

A Council in Open Defiance

Despite the clarity of the audit and a direct instruction from the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Oegeng Molapisi, the council, led by Mayor Douglas Maimane and Speaker Ditshego Mbezi, has refused to act.

Opposition parties allege that council allies are deliberately preventing a quorum to shield Kgatla, with meetings being postponed due to a “lack of quorum.”

Frustrated by the political gridlock, the Save South Africa party has now taken the matter to the High Court in Pretoria. They are seeking an order to force the council speaker to convene a special sitting where the reversal of Kgatla’s appointment can be voted on by secret ballot.

The situation in Madibeng has become a stark case study in accountability versus impunity. A municipal manager, found by an independent body to be unqualified and illegally appointed, remains in his powerful position, protected by a council that seems determined to ignore both the law and the directives of its own provincial supervisor.

{Source: Citizen}

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