A SENIOR municipal manager is waiting to hear if he will be suspended after unread emails cost the eThekwini Municipality millions of rand.
Sibusiso Makhanya, the Deputy City Manager for Trading Services is under investigation for misconduct after he allegedly ignored important work emails.
It is alleged that Makhanya’s actions, or lack thereof, apparently cost ratepayers R70 million or part of it, including R6.6m in interest and legal costs, which the City did not intend to pay.
His troubles started when he allegedly failed to read a series of emails sent to him by colleagues, including from the City’s chief financial officer, between March 8 and April 8.
It is alleged that in these emails he was told to instruct the legal and compliance unit to handle a lawsuit against the municipality for failing to settle an amount of R63.5m owed to Africa Utility Solution (AUS) for installing prepaid electricity meters in the city.
Some of the municipality’s senior managers felt that the company had overcharged the council.
A report of an August 27 executive committee meeting reads: “The instructions required were whether the court application should be opposed or not, and if it was to be opposed, to furnish the Legal and Compliance Unit with the instructions by 13 March 2024.”
In this meeting, Municipal Manager Musa Mbhele said Makhanya said he had had limited access to his emails between March 7 and April 5.
According to documents in possession of the Sunday Tribune, Makhanya said he only became aware of the court case against the City on April 5, which Mbhele found untrue.
“Upon investigation, it was discovered that Makhanya had been responding to other emails during the period 07 March till 27 March 2024, which was a clear indication that he had access to emails but failed to respond to the request for instructions.”
Mbhele said after a court judgment, the municipality had paid R63.5m to the company, “but the interest and legal costs remained outstanding” and could have been avoided had Makhanya done his job as instructed in the emails.
On August 30, Mbhele served Makhanya with a letter of intention to suspend him and informed him that an independent investigator would be appointed to look into the allegations.
In an elaborate 10-page response to Mbhele’s letter, Makhanya said before he allegedly ignored the emails he had advised the legal unit that the service provider’s invoicing was irregular and needed to be corrected before it could be paid.
“The representative from the legal department concluded that since the work has already been done, he does not see the basis for opposing the application by the service provider in court,” said Makhanya.
He said his office did not have access to emails, which affected the functioning of his support staff.
He said due to the demands of his job, he was unable to view some emails and relied on his staff to keep him informed via WhatsApp.
“Unfortunately, my office at Nedbank Building where I am based did not have electricity due to non-payment of the rental fees.
“In trying to minimise this limited access over the past two years we have been trying to get my PA and support staff laptops, which were only delivered last week on the 30th of August.”
Makhanya said he was confused about why Mbhele and the chief financial officer did not instruct the legal unit to defend the lawsuit when they could not reach him since they were privy to the report about discrepancies in the service provider’s invoice.
Makhanya said that while an independent investigator still had to be appointed, the municipality’s City Integrity and Investigation Unit (CIIU) had already found him guilty and recommended that he face disciplinary action.
Municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said they could not comment on employer/employee matters in the media.
Sunday Tribune