UPDATE: On 25 November the decision to appoint Mlokoti was reversed and Acting Municipal Manager, Johann Mettler appointed to the Top Job – See: Dear Municipality – Save R500K and hire me to drive Google for you for the reasons.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has appointed a Municipal Manager to replace acting Municipal Manager Johann Mettler. Vuyo Mlokoti will take over from Mettler on 1 December 2016.
In excess of 70 candidates applied for the position and the last interviews were held on Monday 24 October and Mlokoti was the standout candidate. He will be leaving his job in Pretoria at the the State Information Technology Agency SOC Ltd (SITA) to relocate to Port Elizabeth.
Born on 8 October 1966 in Soweto, Mlokoti is married with two children.
Vuyo Mlokoti obtained his National Senior Certificate in 1983, further obtained a Secondary Teachers Diploma in 1987; a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Transkei in 1990; a Certificate in Public Management and Development from the University of Fort Hare in 1997 and a further Certificate of Executive Leadership in Public and Development Management from the University of Fort Hare in 1999. He finalised his Master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Pretoria in 2008.
His work experience is extensive. He was employed as a junior lecturer at the University of Transkei from 1990 to 1991; a lecturer at Bensonvale College of Education from 1991 to 1994 and was co-chairperson of the Drakensberg Regional Services Council in 1995. His further work experiences are as follows: Regional Director at the Department of Local Government and Housing, Eastern Cape from 1995 to 2000; Chairperson of the Township Board, Eastern Cape from 1996 to 2001; Member of the Eastern Cape Development Tribunal from 1998 to 2002; Executive Committee Member of the National Municipal Demarcation Board from 1999 to 2004; Director (Provincial) for Local Government and Traditional Affairs from 2000 to 2002; Municipal Manager of the Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape from 2002 to 2004 and, finally, Chairperson of the Municipal Demarcation Board from 2004 to 2012.
Vuyo Mlokoti worked for the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, between 2000 and 2009, where he worked on various assignments in countries such as Sierra Leone, Bulgaria, Germany, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand.
In February 2012, Vuyo Mlokoti was appointed group executive in the corporate and shared services directorate of the City of Johannesburg.
From July 2014 until his appointment as Municipal Manager for Nelson Mandela Bay Mlokoti worked in Corporate Services for the State Information Technology Agency SOC Ltd (SITA).
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.
The court ruled in favour of Mlokoti saying; “Applicant (Mlokoti) be and is hereby appointed Municipal Manager of first respondent with effect from 1 August 2008 with his salary to commence on the date on which he assumes his duties with first respondent (Amathole Municipality). First respondent is ordered to pay the costs of this application.”
This Eastern Cape High Court judgment established unequivocally that cadre deployment is indeed unlawful. In this case two people had been shortlisted by the Amathole District Municipality for the post of municipal manager. A selection panel found Vuyo Mlokoti to be the stronger candidate and furthermore the municipality’s recruitment required that appointments be fair and merit-based. However, Mlokoti was overlooked and his weaker rival, Mlami Zenzile, was appointed to the post.
This appointment flowed from the instructions of the ANC’s regional executive committee, which told ANC members of the district council who to vote for.
The court held that the appointment of Zenzile; “It constituted an unauthorised and unwarranted intervention in the affairs of the district council. It is clear that the councillors of the ANC supinely abdicated their political party responsibility to fill the position of municipal manager with the best qualified and most suitable candidate. This was a responsibility owed to the electorate as a whole and not just to the sectarian interests of their political masters… The district council demonstrated a lamentable abdication of its responsibilities by succumbing to a political directive from an external body, while disregarding the merits of the matter.”
Unqualified cadre deployment in general must be exposed for what it actually is, namely unfair discrimination. In effect it is akin to apartheid in the manner in which it operates in relation to those who are not card-carrying members of the ANC or who are not intimately connected to the ANC.
Alan Straton
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