CITY manager at Tshwane Johann Mettler has dismissed claims that there was a plot to fire senior managers from the municipality.
This follows a call by the City for a harsher verdict against five senior officials implicated in the R295m tender to refurbish Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant as part of Phase One of the project.
The controversial contract was awarded to NJR Projects and Blackhead Consulting companies linked to businessman Edwin Sodi in 2019. It was subsequently cancelled in 2022 due to constant problems and delays with the quality of the work on the site.
The City had commissioned an internal disciplinary process against the officials, who were only found guilty on one of the four charges levelled against them.
Unhappy with the outcomes of the disciplinary process, which recommended a sanction of suspension for one month without pay, the City opted to approach the Labour Court for a review.
The City said it sought legal opinion, which suggested the officials ought to have been dismissed after being found guilty on the fourth charge.
The charge in question noted that officials evaluated the winning bidder on a 1,4m belt presses width when the specification required 2m width.
Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “The City strenuously disagrees with the outcome of the disciplinary process and has resolved to appeal the entire outcome of the disciplinary process at the Labour Court.”
The decision by the City has seemingly fuelled suspicions that Mettler was out to sack senior managers in Tshwane.
Mettler said: “It has come to my attention that some of you may feel a little bit of trepidation because you are of the view that there may be some or other blacklist that I have that is aimed at ridding this municipality of some senior managers. Let me be clear with you. There is no such thing.”
He stressed that his job was to establish and manage a rules-based organisation.
“So, all the decisions that we make must be lawful. Those decisions must be within the confines of the job description and they must always be in the best interest of the municipality. Where staff members operate outside those parameters that is when irregular expenditure will be incurred and I am, by law, obligated to investigate and to recover such irregular expenditure,” he said.
One of the charges faced by the officials in the disciplinary process was the inclusion of Blackhead Consulting Services “to render professional services in the circumstances where the city had already appointed a company to render professional services. Consequently, the city incurred costs of R10 999 786.96”.
They were also in hot water for allowing Blackhead Consulting to progress to the next stage of the evaluation without being registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIBD) and also without having the required CIDB 9CE or 9ME and consensus-based decision making, instead of evaluating independently as members of the bid evaluation committee.
Mettler has suspended the implicated officials on full pay pending a review of the ruling “in light of the nature and severity of the charges, together with the fact that the trust relationship has broken down irretrievably”.
He said: “I know that the vast majority of staff in this municipality are honest, hard-working and ethical officials. And I want to thank them for the contribution that they are making to this municipality. I, the city manager, am committed to do what is right.”
Pretoria News