This is in specific reference to the appointment and then withdrawal of that appointment of Vuyo Molokoti as the new Municipal Manager to replace Johann Mettler who was seconded to NMBM from the Drakenstein Municipality.
See: Vuyo Mlokoti – new Municipal Manager for Nelson Mandela Bay for background
I must confess that I have always admired Mettler, a no nonsense son of a preacher man who is intelligent, likeable and has a record of instituting positive change.
So, I may be a bit biased here ….
After the announcement by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of their appointment of Vuyo Mlokoti as new Municipal Manager I turned to everyone’s (or so I thought) stalking tool of choice – Google and saw a number of strange actions taken by Mlokoti during his career one of which stood out for me as not very encouraging for any prospective employer – On 30 October 2008 Mlokoti launched an application against the Amathole District Municipality who had appointed Mlamli Zenzile as Municipal Manager ahead of Mlokoti despite Mlokoti scoring much higher than Zenzile.
Mlokoti won that action which was awarded to him on the basis that cadre deployment was an unlawful action – niggle number ONE.
He lasted two years as Municipal Manager of Amathole – niggle number TWO.
Now, guys with blue blinkers on would read the above and decide for themselves that Vuyo would be the right guy to run this newly blue municipality
They would be wrong as not every enemy of my ebemy is my friend – sometimes they act for other reasons; personal, pride, money.
Trolling through Google, Mlokoti’s entire work history showed many short stints and varied government employers with not too many tangible accolades – niggle number THREE.
The two most recent job assignments showed what could be perceived as a downgrade in posts – where he worked for the City of Jahannesburg and then the State Information Technology Agency – the employer about whom Mlokoti allegedly failed to disclose crucial information to the NMBM.
I also watched some YouTube Videos and read other reports and shrugged off my misgivings that Vuyo was not as strong as Johann – on paper maybe but on execution and demonstrating LONGEVITY, which the NMBM desperately needs, Vuyo failed miserably.
My conclusion at the time was that Mlokoti’s successful tilting and winning against the ANC Amathole District Municipality with regards to cadre deployment being illegal was what blinded the men in blue to any other candidate. I confess that I only discern apolitical leanings in Mettler which would (in a proper world and rightly so) make any political party nervous but all ratepayers joyful!
Apparently Trollip had received a tip-off on 26 October – the day before the council approved Mlokothi’s appointment – that he might have been suspended at Sita.
Trollip had asked Mlokoti repeatedly about the reasons for his premature departure from Sita in July and he had been assured that the departure was amicable.
When Trollip eventually managed to get all the details of the alleged suspension, he found there had been serious non-disclosure.
Consequently on 25 November it was announced that Acting Municipal Manager, Johann Mettler would assume the mantle of the Top Job and Mlokoti would not be appointed.
Tellingly Mettler had not scored the second highest during the interview and evaluation process but his experience of managing a metropolitan municipality was an advantage over the two runner-up candidates. Which leads me to ask; “Then why do we rely on the score chart when they are obviously incorrect?”
The cost to recruit a new Municipal Manager was in excess of R500 000 – the municipality could have done better and cheaper just using Google
And this comes to my pitch:
Next candidate you want to hire, NMBM – just feed me the candidates names and I will use Google to give you an analysis which will probably be 95% accurate. Contact me HERE.
Alan Straton
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