SUPPLIED
Stanley Xulu
Three ANC councillors – including chief whip Stanley Xulu and executive committee member Nondumiso Cele – have been slapped with fines for conducting business worth R10 million with the eThekwini municipality in breach of the council’s code of conduct.
The recommendation – which was made by the municipality’s ethics committee at yesterday’s full council meeting – has been denounced as “a slap on the wrist” by opposition parties, which called for a more stringent penalty.
And while the Democratic Alliance had called on the ethics body to ask Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube to have Xulu fired, and for his co-offenders to be given bigger fines, the call did not garner majority support.
Yesterday, at a full council sitting, the committee presented its report into the disciplinary hearings of the councillors, which included remedial action for Dube’s consideration.
Dube will ultimately decide what action will be taken against the three councillors.
Ethics committee chairman William Mapena announced that Xulu had pleaded guilty to, through Igagasi Lolwandle Trading cc, landing tenders worth R8.5 million in the 2009/10 financial year. The recommendation to Dube is that he be fined the equivalent of 12 months’ net salary – with payment arrangements to be made through the office of the Speaker, Logie Naidoo.
His fellow executive committee member Nondumiso Cele pleaded guilty to conducting business with the council to the value of nearly R200 000 via Cuphiwe Trading Enterprises.
The committee has recommended that she be fined two weeks’ net salary.
Both Xulu and Cele were elected to the executive committee only in 2011 and were thus, in the 2009/10 financial year, earning less than they do now.
The committee recommends that Senzangakhona Shange be ordered to hand over four weeks’ net salary for being awarded work worth nearly R270 000 as a member of Khetha Thina Trading 16 cc.
As in all three cases, the fines would be equivalent to the remuneration of public office bearers as at the end of the 2009/10 financial year.
The DA caucus leader in eThekwini, Tex Collins, said an ordinary councillor would earn about R27 000 before deductions, while the salary of a member of the executive would be about R40 000 before deductions. Collins said the take-home pay depended on the contributions towards items such as medical aid and the pension fund.
The hearings were prompted by a 2009/10 financial report by Auditor-General Terrence Nombembe, which had originally named six councillors as having breached the code of conduct.
They were Colin Gaillard, Jean Lindsay, Mbongeni Cele, Senzangakhona Shange, Nondumiso Cele and Xulu.
However, although both Gaillard and Lindsay had failed to declare directorships of their respective companies within 60 days of being elected councillors, their cases were closed because neither had benefitted financially from these ties.
Cele escaped a grilling because he failed to win a council seat in last May’s local government elections.
The opposition argued yesterday that the proposed sanctions were tantamount to a slap on the wrist and criticised mayor James Nxumalo for not living up to his inauguration promises.
Proposal
The DA’s Warwick Chapman proposed that both Cele and Shange be fined the equivalent of 12 months’ earnings, and that Dube be asked to remove Xulu from office.
The ANC voted resoundingly against all three proposed amendments, and in a show of unity sang and danced when the DA left the hall.
The Minority Front’s Patrick Pillay told the council he was worried about setting a “nasty precedent” that councillors could contravene the code of conduct and that the punitive measures would be lenient.
A National Freedom Party member retorted that Xulu should have to part with 24 months’ wages since he had made a “killing” of R8.5m.
The IFP said it was disappointed with the “light sentences”.
Nxumalo, when tackled on why he had sided with his party when he had publicly declared “a war on corruption”, responded that everyone made mistakes.
“We are all human beings. And as human beings we will make mistakes.
“Today it is these councillors, but tomorrow (it could be) me and you…
“You wanted me to fire this councillor (Xulu)? I would be interfering with the processes. I’m happy with the recommendations of the ethics committee. Finished and klaar.”
In the end, the DA and the IFP voted against the original sanctions, with 38 votes and 8 votes respectively. The ANC voted in favour with 102 votes, supported by the NFP and MF despite the latter’s protestations.
Neither Xulu nor Cele could be reached for comment yesterday, and Shange simply stated “no comment” when contacted.
Co-operative Governance Department spokesman Lennox Mabaso said Dube had not yet had sight of the report by the ethics committee, but she would consider whether the recommended remedial action was appropriate.
Mabaso denied that the problem of councillors trading with their municipalities was widespread, saying such incidents were “sporadic”.
He said that claiming ignorance of the law was not an acceptable excuse.
