Africa-Press – South-Africa. It is imperative that the fraud-accused City manager of Nelson Mandela Bay be suspended immediately, otherwise, important documents and evidence she has access to may disappear.
This is according to a report tabled by the mayor, Gary van Niekerk, at a special council meeting in the metro on Wednesday.
The report recommends that Noxolo Nqwazi be placed on special leave, with full pay, with immediate effect.
Nqwazi is currently on trial in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, facing charges of fraud and corruption.
The charges stem from her alleged involvement in a toilet tender of more than R24 million, which was fraudulently awarded by the municipality a few years ago.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana highlighted Nqwazi’s removal as one of the conditions to disburse more than R700 million in Equitable Share Grant funding owed to the municipality since July.
Last week, Godongwana told Van Niekerk the funds would be released if the municipality took action against Nqwazi.
Van Niekerk subsequently drafted the report and gave a list of reasons why Nqwazi should go.
According to the report, Nqwazi has unfettered access to documents which can jeopardise the investigation.
The report suggests that Nqwazi’s presence in the workplace can intimidate her subordinates and take away their freedom to participate in the investigation or volunteer information.
“The allegations of gross misconduct against the City manager are very serious and have a negative impact on the municipality’s finances. If she is not suspended with immediate effect, vital information and documents could disappear and there could be tampering of evidence,” the mayor said in the report.
He added that it was in the public interest for the investigation to be conducted unhindered – and in an environment that was free and devoid of intimidation.
The report concluded with a recommendation that she be placed on special leave pending an investigation by the municipality’s disciplinary board.
However, the DA’s Retief Odendaal wanted to know whether the disciplinary board could investigate Nqwazi because she had already been cleared of all wrongdoing by the same board at the beginning of the year.
The resolution adopted by council to clear Nqwazi has not yet been rescinded.
According to the metro’s chief operations officer, Christopher Dyani, charges against Nqwazi can be referred to the disciplinary board for investigation. But this can only happen if the charges are fresh.
Nqwazi has seven days to respond to the recommendations.
The matter will be revisited in the next council meeting, scheduled for 12 October.
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