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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Speaker of the Mopani District Municipality, Martha Maswanganyi,  to place the investigation by the Office of the Public Protector into the alleged irregular appointment of fire fighters in the municipality on the next council agenda. The next meeting is later this week.

The DA is in possession of a copy of the letter by the Public Protector (ref: 7/2-002212/22) to the Municipal Manager dated 4 March 2022, in which the following allegations are being investigated:

• That the Municipality advertised 19 positions of senior fire fighters, 18 fire fighters and 5 junior fire fighters and the closing date was 23 January 2020;
• That the Municipality appointed 38 senior fire fighters instead of 19, 27 fire fighters instead of 18 and twenty 23 junior fire fighters instead of 5;
• That 19 of these appointed firefighters were sons, daughters, relatives, girlfriends and friends of current and former officials and political office bearers in the Mopani District Municipality;
• That there have been no uniforms and Personal Protective Equipment’s (PPE’s) in more than 2 years.

In the letter, the Public Protector requests further information from the municipal manager before 30 March 2022, including the recruitment policy, the composition of the interview panels, the advertisement of the positions, the minutes and the shortlisting matrix of the interviews conducted as well as the number of applications received and the CVs of all applicants.

This matter has never been brought to council for discussion and we view that as an attempt to hide these irregular appointments from the public.

We have written to the Speaker to request a full internal investigation into these cadre appointments and to compel the acting Municipal Manager, Tshepo Mogano, to respond in a transparent manner to the Public Protector as well as to council.

We believe that these latest irregular appointments in Mopani district to reward cronies for their allegiance, is a slap in the face of the 60% unemployed youth in the province who are desperate for opportunities and jobs.

We will continue to push for the end of cadre deployment, the bedrock of state capture, to minimise corruption and to create equal job opportunities for all.

Councillor at Mopani District Municipality, Mahlatswa Lebbeus Ramalepe

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