Troubled Buffalo City Metro manager Andile Fani faces suspension for the second time in three months.
All ANC councillors at a council meeting on Tuesday voted to instruct executive mayor Alfred Mtsi to give Fani seven days to explain why he should not be suspended.
Mtsi had tabled a five-page report on the municipal manager’s conduct, which could be labelled as BCM spending millions wastefully and fruitlessly.
The confidential report, tabled in a closed session, revealed that a construction company was paid more than R2-million with no approved budget.
The company has billed the metro more than R7-million, a claim which will add to the metro’s unauthorised and wasteful expenditure.
The council also wants Mtsi to investigate Fani’s conduct relating to a senior manager’s accusation of intimidation and harassment after Fani allegedly left a threatening voice mail.
The Daily Dispatch reported on a voice message the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) submitted as evidence in a case filed against Fani by Siyabulela Peter. In the message Fani claims job requirements were downgraded to accommodate Peter.
In his report Mtsi wrote: “The message contains an admission that the city manager has committed a misconduct in relation to the recruitment of Mr S Peter.”
Mtsi’s report also had 14 attachments including the updated standard of conduct for all BCM employees; letters of awards to all contractors implicated in the pending investigation; letters from the chief financial officer informing either the board adjudication committee or accounting officers about what he viewed as irregularities; and Fani’s responses in that regard.
In his report, the mayor wrote: “There is prima facie evidence of serious misconduct. An independent investigator be appointed within seven days to investigate the alleged misconduct.”
The investigator is expected to give a reportback to BCM council within 30 days.
Mtsi asked the council to give him powers to appoint the investigator and also to write and deliver the letter to Fani, calling him “to make representation as to why he should not be suspended”.
The Dispatch understands that the letter was hand delivered to Fani’s 10th floor office in Trust Building yesterday morning. It is unclear whether Fani was in his office to receive it as he had taken leave since Monday, and did not attend Tuesday’s council meeting.
Both reports now serve as the basis of Mtsi’s decision to put Fani on leave, pending the outcome of the two investigations.
Events leading to the council meeting suggest that Fani has fallen out of favour with the ANC top brass in the province.
When former mayor Zukiswa Ncitha tried to put Fani on suspension, she met resistance from almost half the BCM council, including ANC councillors.
But the ANC provincial leaders upped their game on Tuesday morning to eliminate any defiance and sent the head of the ANC’s disciplinary committee, Mzuyanda Sokujika, to brief the party’s BCM caucus on how to handle the Fani matter.
This follows the party’s attempt two weeks ago to give Fani an exit package eight months before the end of his term, to avoid any fallout.
“The ANC tried everything to do this quietly, but Fani is not cooperating at all. The party is now taking the legal route,” said a source close to the developments.
The Daily Dispatch can reveal that Sokujika warned all ANC councillors that if anyone voted against the caucus decision, heads would roll.
“ did not mince his words. He told us to do what was expected of us as ANC deployees, failing which anyone who votes against the council resolution to suspend Fani will be charged,” said a source from the meeting.
Eight opposition councillors voted against the decision.
Fani had not responded to questions sent to at the time of writing. The ANC also would not be drawn into discussing confidential council matters.
BCM mayoral spokesman Sibusiso Cindi confirmed that the council held a discussion on Fani’s conduct.
“The outcome of that discussion is to be communicated to Mr Fani as a matter of urgency. However, the office of the executive mayor is unable to get into the specifics about the matter as it was on the pink documents,” said Cindi.
The mayor was aware the matter was of interest to the people of BCM and was expecting a speedy resolution “so that the metro can focus on its core business which is to deliver services to the people of BCM”, he added.
Fani faces ANC pressure to go or be pushed
All ANC councillors at a council meeting on Tuesday voted to instruct executive mayor Alfred Mtsi to give Fani seven days to explain why he should not be suspended.
Mtsi had tabled a five-page report on the municipal manager’s conduct, which could be labelled as BCM spending millions wastefully and fruitlessly.
The confidential report, tabled in a closed session, revealed that a construction company was paid more than R2-million with no approved budget.
The company has billed the metro more than R7-million, a claim which will add to the metro’s unauthorised and wasteful expenditure.
The council also wants Mtsi to investigate Fani’s conduct relating to a senior manager’s accusation of intimidation and harassment after Fani allegedly left a threatening voice mail.
The Daily Dispatch reported on a voice message the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) submitted as evidence in a case filed against Fani by Siyabulela Peter. In the message Fani claims job requirements were downgraded to accommodate Peter.
In his report Mtsi wrote: “The message contains an admission that the city manager has committed a misconduct in relation to the recruitment of Mr S Peter.”
Mtsi’s report also had 14 attachments including the updated standard of conduct for all BCM employees; letters of awards to all contractors implicated in the pending investigation; letters from the chief financial officer informing either the board adjudication committee or accounting officers about what he viewed as irregularities; and Fani’s responses in that regard.
In his report, the mayor wrote: “There is prima facie evidence of serious misconduct. An independent investigator be appointed within seven days to investigate the alleged misconduct.”
The investigator is expected to give a reportback to BCM council within 30 days.
Mtsi asked the council to give him powers to appoint the investigator and also to write and deliver the letter to Fani, calling him “to make representation as to why he should not be suspended”.
The Dispatch understands that the letter was hand delivered to Fani’s 10th floor office in Trust Building yesterday morning. It is unclear whether Fani was in his office to receive it as he had taken leave since Monday, and did not attend Tuesday’s council meeting.
Both reports now serve as the basis of Mtsi’s decision to put Fani on leave, pending the outcome of the two investigations.
Events leading to the council meeting suggest that Fani has fallen out of favour with the ANC top brass in the province.
When former mayor Zukiswa Ncitha tried to put Fani on suspension, she met resistance from almost half the BCM council, including ANC councillors.
But the ANC provincial leaders upped their game on Tuesday morning to eliminate any defiance and sent the head of the ANC’s disciplinary committee, Mzuyanda Sokujika, to brief the party’s BCM caucus on how to handle the Fani matter.
This follows the party’s attempt two weeks ago to give Fani an exit package eight months before the end of his term, to avoid any fallout.
“The ANC tried everything to do this quietly, but Fani is not cooperating at all. The party is now taking the legal route,” said a source close to the developments.
The Daily Dispatch can reveal that Sokujika warned all ANC councillors that if anyone voted against the caucus decision, heads would roll.
“ did not mince his words. He told us to do what was expected of us as ANC deployees, failing which anyone who votes against the council resolution to suspend Fani will be charged,” said a source from the meeting.
Eight opposition councillors voted against the decision.
Fani had not responded to questions sent to at the time of writing. The ANC also would not be drawn into discussing confidential council matters.
BCM mayoral spokesman Sibusiso Cindi confirmed that the council held a discussion on Fani’s conduct.
“The outcome of that discussion is to be communicated to Mr Fani as a matter of urgency. However, the office of the executive mayor is unable to get into the specifics about the matter as it was on the pink documents,” said Cindi.
The mayor was aware the matter was of interest to the people of BCM and was expecting a speedy resolution “so that the metro can focus on its core business which is to deliver services to the people of BCM”, he added.
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