The DA says cash-strapped Emfuleni Local Municipality is refusing to disclose the qualifications of the newly appointed 34 officials using the Protection of Information Act of 2013 as an excuse.

In a written reply to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) states that the municipality is unable to respond and provide the information.

“According to the department, the municipality is seeking a legal opinion about the restrictions imposed by the Protection of Information Act 4 of 2013. Furthermore, some of the vacancies were advertised in 2019 and were only filled this year. This raises suspicions about why it took so long for the vacancies to be filled.

“This is a mere excuse to hide this municipality’s nepotism and cadre deployment that has bought it to its knees. This municipality is in a serious financial crisis and unable to pay the debt owed to Eskom and Rand Water,” said Kingsol Chabalala, DA Constituency Head of Emfuleni North.

“For the longest time, the DA has been requesting the department’s interventions to deal with issues of maladministration, corruption, and nepotism and, to date, nothing has happened.

The DA will be submitting a Promotion of Access to Information (PIA) application to The Gauteng MEC for COGTA, Mzi Khumalo, to disclose the qualifications of all the newly appointed 34 officials in Emfuleni.

Should it be found that some of the appointed officials are not qualified for the job, we will ensure that their appointment will be revoked and that they pay back every cent they earned to the municipality,” he added.

Forwarded by: Cornelius D. Mofokeng.