Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Theewaterskloof Local Municipality has lashed out at Local Government MEC Anton Bredell after he raised concerns about the appointment of its municipal manager.
In April, the municipality appointed Wilfred Solomons-Johannes as the acting municipal manager following the abrupt resignation of Boy Manqoba Ngubo.
Ngubo quit the municipality just five months after being appointed on a five-year contract.
Solomons-Johannes is a seasoned municipal official, who previously held senior positions in the City of Cape Town.
During a special council meeting last week Friday, the council decided that Solomons-Johannes should remain in his position as municipal manager.
However, understands that Bredell had lodged concerns about Solomons-Johannes’ appointment and requested the appointment be set aside.
It’s understood that Bredell is seeking legal advice to compel the municipality to reverse the appointment.
Bredell’s spokesperson, Wouter Kriel, told News24 the MEC studied documents supplied by the municipality and was concerned about the appointment process and whether it was legal.
“He subsequently wrote to the municipality instructing them to put the appointment aside. If they fail to do so, the MEC is considering a legal route by approaching a court to have the appointment declared illegal,” he said.
Theewaterskloof Mayor, Mary Liebenberg, defended Solomons-Johannes’ appointment, saying she was concerned about Bredell’s motive to order the removal of the municipal manager.
She said:
Liebenberg added that Bredell had approved the appointment of Solomons-Johannes as the acting municipal manager after the DA in the Theewaterskloof Council nominated Solomons-Johannes for this position.
“I agree with my coalition partners that the MEC did not make mistakes in this regard, and hence the only conclusion I can come to is that Bredell’s current actions are politically motivated. This municipality will protect the position and integrity of Mr Solomons-Johannes even if it means that we must challenge Bredell,” she said.
The Theewaterskloof Local Municipality is led through a coalition of the ANC, Patriotic Alliance and GOOD party.
“As the mayor, I do not want to waste taxpayers’ money on this matter, and I urge the MEC to rethink his actions. This is clearly irritating the DA and allegedly forms the basis of the MEC’s actions against the municipal manager. As mayor, I will not allow this to happen as it could destabilise the municipality in its plight to secure long-term municipal stability for the people of Theewaterskloof,” she added.
The DA’s Theewaterskloof constituency head, Isaac Sileku, said: “We reject the decision to ignore the MEC’s non-condonation, and we support the MEC’s motion.”
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