Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by Johannesburg Executive Mayor, Cllr Mpho Phalatse, during a press briefing. The Executive Mayor was flanked by the MMC for Group Corporate and Shared Services, and the Acting City Manager, Mesuli Mlandu.
The consolidation of our Constitutional Democracy, marked by events like the changing of political leadership at the Executive level, that being one party being voted out and one or more others being voted in, exposes us to regulated practices, that when applied may often seem foreign; and even shock not only those who have been rejected through free and fair elections but also the media and the public at large.
We have deliberately, up until this point, held off on commenting on the matter before us, because we were bound by internal processes, which have subsequently been completed, barring one or two steps. It would have, therefore, been premature and out of step with good governance practices for the Multi-Party Government to place the facts on the table, while those processes were ongoing.
It is nonetheless, in the public interest that we correct the posturing of those who have run to the media to contaminate the truth by politicising and even racialising what is in fact an administrative and regulatory matter.
The Multi-Party Government’s report, adopted in Council through a resolution, which rescinded the previous Mayoral Committee’s decision to illegally convert the fixed-term contracts of senior managers and Caucus Support Staff in private or political offices is in line with the principle and practice of good governance - a priority we will not compromise on.
It is important to stress that we are talking about political staff and not the administrative staff of the City. This is a detail that has been omitted in the reporting and analysis over the last few days.
What do we mean when we talk about a private office or a political office?
These can be defined as the offices that support seven different types of political principals of the City, namely:
- Office of the Executive Mayor
- Office of the Speaker
- Chief Whips
- Deputy Chief Whips
- Chairperson of Chairpersons Office
- Leader of the Opposition’s Office; and
- Offices of the MMCs
- Political Party Caucus Support Staff
These are offices that are tied to an electoral outcome or mandate, and so too are the political staff that support them. These include, but not limited to, the Chief of Staff, Special and Strategic Advisors, Personal Assistants, Spokespersons, and the like, who are recruited for employment on a fixed-term contract linked to the term of office of the elected politician.
Equally, in the event that the political principal is prematurely ousted or steps down, their staff also follow, as was the case when the former Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba was succeeded by the late Executive Mayor, Geoff Makhubo.
This is an accepted and duly legislated practice applied across the world, because a political strategy and programme that is driven by personnel who do not share the same values as the government of the day will have far reaching implications for good governance and service delivery objectives as mandated by the electoral outcome.
In an acknowledgement of the fixed-term contracts in a political office, and to create a uniform reference point across and within the different spheres of Government, COGTA, which we are answerable to, issued a regulation that outlines the intent and purpose behind the employment of political staff; stating that they must be placed on a fixed-term contract, with a 30-day exit clause in the instance of a change in the political administration. The regulation comes into effect in the middle of this year.
As a result of the machinations of the previous Mayoral Committee, the City and its residents are victims of an attempted political hijacking that we are bound by law to correct.
To deduce that the Multi-Party Government’s correction of an illegal and expensive action is a “witch-hunt” fueled by political motives is untrue, and a willful disregard for the Municipal Finances Management Act (MFMA) that prescribes in Section 78 that:
(1) Each senior manager of a municipality and each official of a municipality
exercising financial management responsibilities must take all reasonable steps within
their respective areas of responsibility to ensure -
(a) that the system of financial management and internal control established for the municipality is carried out diligently;
(b) that the financial and other resources of the municipality are utilised effectively, efficiently, economically and transparently;
(c) that any unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure and any losses are prevented.
Further to this, the continued permanent employment of these personnel may constitute an unlawful gratification, which they have a lawful duty to assist the Office of the City Manager to mitigate such continued employment in terms of the Section 6 (2) (c) of the Municipal Systems Act, which states: “The administration of the Municipality must take measures to prevent corruption.”
With 130 personnel imposed on political offices and the City’s salary bill at a cost of at least R80-million per annum, we had to regularise these appointments in line with the original terms of employment. We suspect that there could be more irregular appointments.
The responsible actions of the Multi-Party Government must signal to all 36,000 of the City’s employees, regardless of rank or affiliation that we are prioritising good governance in order to accelerate service delivery.
Indeed, this is a new era or a Golden Start for the City of Johannesburg, where there is zero tolerance towards using the municipal coffers to build an small army of loyalists at the expense of close to 6-million residents.
Ends
For media queries, please contact:
Mabine Seabe
Director: Mayoral Communication
Private Office of the Executive Mayor
084 677 7851
03/03/2022
