EThekwini Mayor urged to take action against top city official after Concourt ruling

Pressure is mounting on eThekwini Municipality mayor Cyril Xaba to act against the City Manager Musa Mbhele following the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of the City’s appeal to overturn a lower order, which ruled that it must pay a service provider R30 million for the work the company had done.

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court dismissed the City’s leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision after that court in February also upheld the earlier Durban High Court’s ruling that the City must pay the service provider.

The City is also expected to fork out more than R20 million in interest as the debt has accumulated interest since the high court ruling in 2022.

The City also incurred legal fees as the appeal was dismissed with costs - now the case has  drawn the attention of a former deputy city manager who was charged with misconduct after the city incurred legal costs in a separate matter.  

On Thursday, Sibusiso Makhanya instructed his law firm, Macgregor Erasmus Attorneys INC to write a letter of demand to the mayor to table the letter to the council within seven days.

Makhanya, then the deputy city manager for trading services had been charged for misconduct for causing the City to incur R6 million in interest after it was taken to court by a service provider had not been paid R63.5 million.

The City blamed Makhanya for failing to respond to emails from the Chief Financial Officer as there were allegations that the service provider had overcharged the City. The City argued that had Makhanya cooperated, the municipality would have avoided the R6 million in interest.

Makhanya eventually left his job.

Through his lawyers, Makhanya is now demanding that City management need to be consistent and hold Mbhele accountable for the cost the City will incur as a result of this week's Constitutional Court ruling.

“We brought to your attention then, as we do now, that one of the issues our client raised at his disciplinary hearing was the inconsistent application of the disciplinary code vis a vie himself and Mbhele. Mbhele was the person responsible for eThekwini having the default judgment granted against it and therefore incurring wasteful expenditure.

"No further indulgences or communications will be forthcoming from our client and should you fail to act as you are obliged to, then we hold instructions to approach an appropriate forum for the necessary relief,” concludes the letter.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi has joined calls for the mayor to act against officials responsible for the costs. In a statement the MEC called on the City to recover the money from officials that were responsible for the loss.

In a short response, the City's spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the municipality has accepted the court order, however, the mayor is yet to respond to the calls for action against for those responsible. Mbhele declined to discussing the letter of demand and referred questions to the mayor's office.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za