Trade unions have rapped the City over the knuckles following charges brought against about 29 senior managers including directors related to supply management processes and tenders.
The City’s move has sparked concerns and calls on the municipal manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo to suspend the process until the matter was discussed with the unions.
The group was reportedly slapped with charges over the last few months which led some of them to retire and others to resign.
The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has described the City’s action as an “unprecedented attack”, which could adversely affect service delivery.
According to the union in the human settlements directorate alone, two of the four directors were facing disciplinary charges.
“In our final analysis, most of the systemic issues are connected to Supply Chain Management (SCM) system as tenders are involved,” said the union.
“But there is no sign of any accountability being apportioned to the senior leadership of SCM.”
Samwu also alleged possible “political interference”.
“Certain issues pertaining to land may never be addressed as some directors and senior managers from human settlements were charged,” the union said.
“All the allegations or charges of the about 29 officials have to do with tenders.”
The senior managers facing charges also include two other directors, one from the water and waste directorate and the other from the facilities management who were about to be charged but have since left the City.
In addition several other senior officials in the human settlements directorate were also facing charges similar to those of the directors who resigned.
Samwu said about nine officials facing charges decided to take early retirement .
“It is our view that the issues that led to all these charges are systemic and need to be improved by the employer.”
The union added that a new director who took over from a previous one who died during the Covid-19 pandemic was also charged, indicating systemic issues.
In the recreation and parks department, about eight managers were also charged for systems related issues, according to Samwu, “some have since resigned or took early retirement”.
In the fleet management department, about eight officials were also facing charges.
The union accused Mbandazayo’s office of trying to address alleged irregularities by bringing charges against the managers instead of improving the City’s systems.
“The massive charging of officials will not address these issues but will instil fear instead of improving service delivery.”
The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) has also written to Mbandazayo raising concerns about how processes were handled.
“Entire departments and or management structures are often charged on the exact same allegations, and these always have to do with contract management, SCM and tender processes.
“It’s our shared view that the City needs to take a careful look at its own processes and systems (that are) in place, ensure that employees are fully apprised of roles and responsibilities – the lines are often blurred and this needs to be addressed as a system failure,” said the union.
It further warned that the current situation was untenable and urged the City to clarify systems for employees involved in contract management so they had a full understanding of what they would be held accountable for in the future.
While it remains unclear whether the charges related to findings by the auditor-general or internal processes, the City has previously been flagged by the AG’s report for having regressed in its audit outcomes.
“Over the term of the previous administration, the City of Cape Town regressed from a clean audit outcome to a financially unqualified opinion with findings on compliance with legislation relating to supply chain management and the prevention of irregular expenditure,” says the latest audit report.
The municipality incurred over R700 million in irregular expenditure and was issued with two material irregularity notifications – one for payments to service providers for goods and services not received, and another for paying external contractors for excessive standby hours because a needs analysis was not performed.
The City’s spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said the municipality’s disciplinary procedure was governed by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) disciplinary procedure collective agreement which applied to all staff members irrespective of the level of the position.
However, municipal managers and senior employees who directly report to the municipal manager are excluded from the agreement.
He declined to comment on the disciplinary process to third parties.
“Unions are welcome to raise any procedural or substantive issues during the disciplinary hearings.
“The City rejects the insinuation that it treats staff members inconsistently; staff are treated fairly in terms of the collective agreement,” he said.
Tyhalibhongo said the City adopted a consequence management systems and procedure code to ensure consistency in disciplinary processes.