The DA in Msunduzi has written to the Municipal Administrator, Mr. Martin Sithole, to request an urgent investigation into the recent appointment of General Assistants, following growing reports of political interference (view letter here).
Early this year, the municipality advertised vacancies for “General Assistants” and the said applications for the posts closed on the 14th of February 2022 at 15:30. Thousands of applicants came to the municipal offices to apply.
On Monday last week, DA councillors started receiving calls from members of the public asking us to consider their names for the vacancies they had applied for. They then informed us that ANC councillors were allegedly submitting the names of their preferred candidates.
The DA called a Special Caucus Meeting to ascertain the veracity of these allegations. In this meeting, the majority of our caucus had been approached by community members about this. DA councillors who sit in the Corporate Services Portfolio Committee confirmed that no report of these appointments had been made.
On Thursday, there were people that were called to the Harry Gwala Stadium that have allegedly been appointed and are in the process of medicals this week before signing their contracts.
The individuals that are in the process of being appointed were allegedly referred by either a Ward or PR councillor in our municipality. It is believed that some councillors were asked to bring a certain number of people to fill these vacancies. Involvement of councillors in this process is concerning and should not be.
It is in this regard that we have written to the administrator. These appointments need to be put on hold and investigated. The process needs to be just, fair and open to all residents regardless of their political affiliation.