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Mpilo Mbambisa golden handshake approved by Danny Jordaan

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Dear MyPE

The DA rejects Mayor Danny Jordaan’s announcement today that a large golden handshake to Municipal Manager, Mpilo Mbambisa, has been approved. A golden handshake to Mbambisa, who faces serious charges of financial misconduct, is an abandonment of our Constitution and a show of total disrespect for our democracy.

In defence of South Africa’s Constitution and Democracy, the DA will lay criminal charges against Mbambisa. This is in line with Section 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, which makes provision for criminal charges to be laid against an individual who contravenes the act.

This takes the amount of golden handshakes and damages paid to city managers by the NMB Metro over the last few years to well over R10-million.

Serious allegations of financial misconduct exist against Mbambisa. The municipality has chosen to not respect the rule of law and test the allegations against Mbambisa in court, but rather to financially reward his misconduct.

Sections 172 and 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act legally compel the council to act on these allegations.

Over R10-million has now been lost to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay in these wasteful payouts. This amount of money could have built over 100 RDP houses. These millions and millions of rand could have replaced over 800 of the 3000 bucket toilets in Walmer Township, with dignified flush toilets.

South Africa sees all too often how the ANC recycles cadres – appointments are made for political loyalty rather than skill, then when an appointee fails to perform or is dishonest, the cadre’s indiscretions are ignored for ages, and when they can’t be ignored any longer the individual is moved sideways with a large payout at the expense of government delivery.

The ANC cannot unnecessarily waste more ratepayers’ money to deal with the devastating consequences of political interference in the appointment of government officials.

A DA government would ensure that the appointment of government officials follows due process, remains fair, transparent and is based on capacity to perform and not on political-alignment. In light of the terrible track record displayed by municipal managers in Nelson Mandela Bay, the policy surrounding the employment of government officials needs to be reviewed by council as a matter of public importance.

The DA is set on winning Nelson Mandela Bay at next year’s elections to restore service delivery, to appoint a skilled administration and to root out poor performance so that the residents of the Metro can be afforded the opportunity to live in a well-run city.

Regards

Retief Odendaal

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