The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Eastern Cape notes and welcomes with joy, jubilation and vindication the ruling of the Eastern Cape High Court delivered on the 28th of June 2022 setting aside the decision by the Amathole District Municipality to reappoint the disgraced and fake Dr Thandekile Mnyimba as the Municipal Manager.

As SAMWU the ruling is a vindication to the union for the calls that we have been making that the ADM flawed in the process leading to the appointment of Mr Mnyimba as the chief accounting officer of the institution. Importantly, we took issue with the fact that the process leading to this illegal appointment was littered with irregularities and more worryingly that the appointment was not in the interest of workers and residents as Mr Mnyimba dismally failed the institution during his previous term as the Municipal Manager.

For us, this decision was illogical and thus led us to believe that the appointment was a way to serve the interests of certain individuals while in the process dispersing patronage to the political elites and their cronies in the municipality.

Furthermore, the appointment itself was in contravention of the Municipal Systems Act and recruitment policies of the institution. Of great concern, is the fact that Mr Mnyimba falsified his qualifications and further claimed that he was a member of the Institute for Municipal Finance Officers (IMFO), all of which was proven to be a lie. 

We have since learnt through a circular to employees at the ADM that the municipality has appointed an Acting Municipal Manager effective 1 July. We are of the view that the municipality should as a matter of priority advertise and fill the position of Municipal Manager. Given the challenges that the ADM has faced, especially under the authoritarian rule of Mr Mnyimba, the ADM needs to appoint a suitable and qualified Municipal Manager on a full-time basis.

Given the misrepresentation of qualifications by Mr Mnyimba, we call on the Acting Municipal Manager to, without delay open a fraud case against Mr Mnyimba. The Acting Municipal Manager should also institute a process to immediately recoup all the monies that have been unduly and fraudulently paid to Mr Mnyimba. Should the Acting Municipal Manager fail to do this, he will have failed in fulfilling his duties as the chief accounting officer of the Municipality. We will then be left with no option but to hold the Acting Municipal Manager liable for dereliction of his duties. We will as a union open the fraud case against Mr. Mnyimba with the intention of recovering his ill-gotten gains from Mr Mnyimba.

As SAMWU we, therefore, encourage the ADM Council to immediately embark on the process of appointing a suitable and qualified Municipal Manager so the municipality can be returned to normality and stability. As workers and residents served by the ADM, we are interested in seeing a municipality that serves residents, is stable and delivered on its Constitutional mandate.

 

Issued by SAMWU Eastern Cape