13 April 2009

Former ANC uMgungundlovu District Mayor Bongi Sithole, who was fired last year for misappropriating council funds and appointing unqualified people to senior positions, has been given a lifeline by KwaZulu Natal MEC for Local Government Mike Mabuyakhulu.

Only last weekend the media reported that Sithole had been unemployed since last June, that she was owing thousands of Rands to various creditors and that she was about to have her household contents and her car auctioned to recoup the costs.

However, the IFP has been reliably informed that Sithole has recently been appointed to a senior R620,000-per-annum position of Dispute Resolution Manager in the provincial Department of Local Government in a process riddled with irregularities and irony.

"Sithole was appointed at the end of March in a hurry to fill vacancies across the provincial government before the election. Her job was never advertised and was apparently created for her by the Head of Department Gabi Gumbi-Masilela," said IFP local government spokesperson Peter Smith.

The irony is that Sithole who was ousted under a cloud from the uMgungundlovu District Municipality will, as Dispute Resolution Manager, oversee dispute resolution between municipalities and the department.

"This is a textbook example of conflict of interest," said Smith.

Prior to her dismissal, the IFP had relentlessly questioned Sithole's mismanagement of the council's funds by siphoning off R1.3-million to her boyfriend Lucky Moloi of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce as well as her appointment of an unqualified Monica Mngadi to the position of Municipal Manager.

Contact:
Peter Smith,           083 256 4902