By SIPHE MACANDA
The Buffalo City Metro Council is considering writing off an amount believed to be just more than R1.3-million, paid to a SACP regional treasurer, hired on a three-year contract to speed up troubled Mdantsane’s urban renewal programme.
SACP Skenjana Roji District treasurer Xolani Wonono was initially hired in 2011 by the metro to facilitate the ambitious development project.
The European Union, which funded the programme, pulled out in 2012 as the project showed no progress. But instead Wonono was seconded and his contract extended.
He worked in different positions while still drawing a salary from the failed project. He was given an additional responsibility as a programme manager.
Details pertaining to his secondments to various positions in the metro are contained in a confidential document tabled in a special council meeting last month.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Wonono said he was not aware of any investigation or council report.
“I have never been called by any committee of the council. I am surprised because I do not have the report. I am really surprised that a committee of council can discuss a junior official. I do not know the reason for the investigation, my contract with BCM ends now in June,” Wonono said.
He said it was concerning that out of hundreds of BCM employees, council chose to probe him.
The report by the municipal public accounts committee (Mpac) also recommends that current acting municipal manager Ceba Ncunyana further probe the various contract extensions and secondments of officials.
“Further investigations be taken by the city manager into the roles and actions of the officials involved in the extension and secondment outside of the staff policy framework and that a report thereon be submitted to the Council meeting scheduled for July 2016. Should they be found to have acted wrongly or unlawfully, consequences management procedures be undertaken,” the report reads.
The report, compiled by Mpac chairman Sakhumzi Caga, however, exonerates Wonono from any wrongdoing for being a beneficiary of “irregular expenditure”.
Just when his contract was about to expire in 2013, then municipal manager Andile Fani wrote to the acting director of corporate services to facilitate an internal secondment of officials to the enterprise management office, in the office of the municipal manager.
Wonono was included in this secondment together with other officials. On May 22 2013 his contract was extended to April 30 2016, backdated to May 1. A year later, in August 2014, he was seconded to the revenue management department as programme manager for the period September 1 2014 to June 30 2015.
The report notes that: “It is not clear how the termination date was established noting that in terms of the secondment to the position in the Enterprise management office, the termination date was set as April 30 2016.”
The report further reveals how Wonono was unduly paid a responsibility allowance even though it was not part of his employment agreement.
“It appears that he may have been overpaid during this period of employment i.e from September 1 2014 to June 30 2015. The committee ... has reservations as to the necessity for the payment of an additional responsibility allowance.
“However such payments are at the discretion of the city manager,” the confidential report reads.
Between September 1 2014 and June 30 2015 he was paid just over R446000.
Even though the Mpac report recommends that money improperly paid to Wonono not be recovered from him, it is scathing about how the original EU coordinator contract was extended through secondments over the years.
The report concludes that the council not consider any actions against Wonono for the recovery of any amounts paid to him.
“The council notes that the expenditure amounts to irregular/unauthorised expenditure and should be disclosed as such,” part of the recommendations reads, but they do not reveal the actual amount.
“No recovery of any payments possibly incorrectly paid can be made from him.”
The Daily Dispatch last year exposed how several BCM workers, including Samwu shop stewards, had received huge salary increases of up to 400% after being seconded to senior positions in just two years. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
R1.3m down the drain
The Buffalo City Metro Council is considering writing off an amount believed to be just more than R1.3-million, paid to a SACP regional treasurer, hired on a three-year contract to speed up troubled Mdantsane’s urban renewal programme.
SACP Skenjana Roji District treasurer Xolani Wonono was initially hired in 2011 by the metro to facilitate the ambitious development project.
The European Union, which funded the programme, pulled out in 2012 as the project showed no progress. But instead Wonono was seconded and his contract extended.
He worked in different positions while still drawing a salary from the failed project. He was given an additional responsibility as a programme manager.
Details pertaining to his secondments to various positions in the metro are contained in a confidential document tabled in a special council meeting last month.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Wonono said he was not aware of any investigation or council report.
“I have never been called by any committee of the council. I am surprised because I do not have the report. I am really surprised that a committee of council can discuss a junior official. I do not know the reason for the investigation, my contract with BCM ends now in June,” Wonono said.
He said it was concerning that out of hundreds of BCM employees, council chose to probe him.
The report by the municipal public accounts committee (Mpac) also recommends that current acting municipal manager Ceba Ncunyana further probe the various contract extensions and secondments of officials.
“Further investigations be taken by the city manager into the roles and actions of the officials involved in the extension and secondment outside of the staff policy framework and that a report thereon be submitted to the Council meeting scheduled for July 2016. Should they be found to have acted wrongly or unlawfully, consequences management procedures be undertaken,” the report reads.
The report, compiled by Mpac chairman Sakhumzi Caga, however, exonerates Wonono from any wrongdoing for being a beneficiary of “irregular expenditure”.
Just when his contract was about to expire in 2013, then municipal manager Andile Fani wrote to the acting director of corporate services to facilitate an internal secondment of officials to the enterprise management office, in the office of the municipal manager.
Wonono was included in this secondment together with other officials. On May 22 2013 his contract was extended to April 30 2016, backdated to May 1. A year later, in August 2014, he was seconded to the revenue management department as programme manager for the period September 1 2014 to June 30 2015.
The report notes that: “It is not clear how the termination date was established noting that in terms of the secondment to the position in the Enterprise management office, the termination date was set as April 30 2016.”
The report further reveals how Wonono was unduly paid a responsibility allowance even though it was not part of his employment agreement.
“It appears that he may have been overpaid during this period of employment i.e from September 1 2014 to June 30 2015. The committee ... has reservations as to the necessity for the payment of an additional responsibility allowance.
“However such payments are at the discretion of the city manager,” the confidential report reads.
Between September 1 2014 and June 30 2015 he was paid just over R446000.
Even though the Mpac report recommends that money improperly paid to Wonono not be recovered from him, it is scathing about how the original EU coordinator contract was extended through secondments over the years.
The report concludes that the council not consider any actions against Wonono for the recovery of any amounts paid to him.
“The council notes that the expenditure amounts to irregular/unauthorised expenditure and should be disclosed as such,” part of the recommendations reads, but they do not reveal the actual amount.
“No recovery of any payments possibly incorrectly paid can be made from him.”
The Daily Dispatch last year exposed how several BCM workers, including Samwu shop stewards, had received huge salary increases of up to 400% after being seconded to senior positions in just two years. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
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