INLSA
Sibusiso Sithole, eThekwini City Manager
What is eThekwini city manager S’bu Sithole hiding and who is he protecting?
Those were the burning questions asked by members of the DA and NFP in eThekwini before they walked out of a closed, full-council meeting yesterday.
Sithole had been due to table new recommendations on the damning, but elusive, Manase and Associates report.
However, the two parties snubbed Sithole by refusing to have anything to do with a document they have not seen the full contents of.
Political parties that used the Promotion of Access to Information Act were told they would get the complete report and annexures by July 16 and that it would be released to the public today.
But so far, only Sithole, mayor James Nxumalo and a handful of senior ANC politicians have been privy to it.
DA caucus leader Tex Collins said that Sithole had reneged on |his promise to release the report, |ostensibly because it contained the names of whistleblowers whose identities needed to be protected.
“The city manager promised to release the report to exco and caucuses on July 16. That deadline has come and gone,” he said.
Collins said that the party would consult its national leadership on which legal route to take.
He said Sithole was “leading the council by the nose” and that the DA would not “blindly” make judgements and recommendations.
DA councillor Rick Crouch tweeted: “DA walks out of a closed meeting of council regarding the Manase report due to the failure of its release to the public durbancouncil.”
NFP councillor Bongiwe Mtshali said her party had walked out because it no longer wanted to be party to Sithole’s cover-up.
“It now appears as if there are individuals who are being protected. Enough is enough. Sithole is playing games. That report was paid for by ratepayers, therefore it should be made public,” she said.
It was believed that the report was withheld because new evidence, uncovered by Strauss Daly Attorneys – who were appointed by Sithole to further investigate aspects of the findings by Manase – had come to light.
The new evidence apparently names a top official in awarding an irregular contract.
The abridged version of the report, which was released in February, exposed maladministration, corruption and fraud in the municipality.
Top officials named in the report included former mayor Obed Mlaba, ex-city boss Michael Sutcliffe, treasury head Krish Kumar, former housing head Cogi Pather, former human settlements and infrastructure head Derek Naidoo and Jacquie Subban, the geographic information and policy unit head.
eThekwini spokesman Thabo Mofokeng would only say: “We will issue a formal statement on all issues by the end of this week.”
