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AQAffair – MBDA Sticks to Their Guns

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The following statement was released by MBDA Board Chairperson Glenda Perumal:

There have been several articles published with a narrative that the MBDA Board has unlawfully appointed Mr Qaba as the MBDA CEO. This narrative was also given legs by the recent opinion the city had acquired. Due to this, and the decision taken by Council, the MBDA consulted intensively on the matter and the legal opinion was sought by the institution from Adv. Buchanan SC who confirmed what the Board has all along been stating, that the process of appointing the MBDA CEO was above board despite the legal opinion received by the city. It is worth highlighting that the city’s legal opinion is misguided and is also based on misinformation which makes it factual incorrect in several areas, for example, it seems that the City’s advocate’s decision is based on the fact that he had consulted with Mr Dyani (COO) who according to him was a panel member delegated by the City Manager in the interview processes.

This is not truthful and I without fear or favour call this a lie, Mr Dyani was never part of the panel and Mr Dyani joined the Municipality when the recruitment process was already at interview stages. Can anyone therefore give credit to such an opinion that is based on misinformation? This is just one point which indicates that Council took a decision based on a flawed legal opinion and the MBDA has through its attorney called for the city to review its decision based on the latest facts.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the interview process itself experienced political interference from the very onset by the city. When the Board constituted the panel, it invited the city manager or her representative to be part of the panel as an observer thus with a non-scoring status. This decision of the Board was overturned by the former Mayor Retief Odendaal who instructed that the Board changes the status of the city manager to scoring. This instruction was made against a clear advice provided to him in terms of the appointment process of the CEO which gives full powers to the Board to appoint its CEO.
The former Mayor therefore interfered and went against the law prescripts as enshrined in the Municipal Systems Act despite having been advised of such. Retief Odendaal also publicly confirmed that he had interfered with the recruitment process, in his letter to the Herald dated 23 August 2023, Odendaal states that he had instructed that the recruitment process of the CEO be stopped the moment he heard/knew that Mr Qaba was shortlisted. What Retief is not saying is on whether he had given the reasons for the interviews to be stopped or not.

Also, what needs to be questioned is on whether Retief even as the mayor at the time has in terms of the law powers to stop a legally constituted interview process against the Board’s mandate as enshrined in section 93J of the systems act. Based on his comments in the letter that was sent to the Herald and many other media statements he made, I am of the view that Retief was instructing the MBDA to discriminate against Mr Qaba who he cleared through a settlement agreement.

The panel also experienced challenges by the City Manager who attempted to change panel members after the shortlisting process was done and during the interview processes. The panel and the Board did not agree to proposed changes as this would have rendered the process irregular. This conduct by the City Manager came with costs which will resulted to fruitless and wasteful expenditure as the interviews were cancelled at the last minutes.

The candidates were already flown in to Gqeberha from various cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg at MBDA cost. This did not just cost the MBDA financially but also caused a reputational damage. This was reported to Retief who promised to address the matter with the City Manager and MBDA Member Representatives, this however never happened until he was removed as the mayor. These are just few instances which highlights an on-going political interference in the MBDA affairs. Pertaining to the recruitment and selection process in question, the MBDA board wisely included the NMBM and MBDA Audit Committee Chairperson in the panel as an observer. In conclusion of the interviews, the Chairperson of the Audit Committee gave the process thumbs up with no contrary views on the unanimous decision that Mr Qaba based on the interviews was the best candidate to lead the MBDA as its CEO. It must be noted that Mr Qaba met all the requirements as per the advertisement for the CEO position and in line with the MBDA recruitment policy he had undergone a rigorous psychometric testing before his appointment which positively indicated that Mr Qaba was a firm strategic leader suitable to be the MBDA CEO.

In relation to the recent threatening letters sent by the City Manager referring to the recent council resolution based on the City opinion, it is worth mentioning that such communication is procedurally and legally incorrect considering the Municipal Systems Act which is clear that the communication line between the parent municipality and the agency is between the Executive Mayor and the Chairperson of the Board. The systems act is also very clear on the process for the removal of the Board which the MBDA will deal with as it comes. The City Manager thus with her conduct is undermining these set legal processes and, in that way, she is undermining the Executive Mayor and the Deputy Executive Mayor who is delegated to oversee the MBDA matters.
As per the advice by Adv Buchanan, the MBDA will do its level best to resolve these matters with NMBM by discharging the intergovernmental dispute resolution mechanisms to avoid getting into more legal costs by taking the matter to court which will unnecessarily cost the public. Ultimately, the MBDA hopes that the NMBM leadership will act on all issues raised through our attorney and advocate as a matter of urgency. It is also the MBDA’s wish that both the Executive Mayor and Deputy Executive Mayor call the City Manager into order by refraining from sending her threatening correspondence failing which the MBDA will have no option but to urgently approach the High Court for a relief. Once again this is not desirable however the city will have to show its commitment to the proposed solutions.

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