The Msunduzi Municipality struggles to discipline offending workers, as officials are reportedly facing death threats.
Image: Independent Newspapers Archives
Death threats against Msunduzi Municipality officials conducting disciplinary actions have led to the council incurring millions of rand of wasteful expenditure, as accused employees ended up on years of paid suspension without their cases being finalised.
This was revealed when the financially battling municipality appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in Parliament on Wednesday.
Although the city's Chief Financial Officer Nelisiwe Ngcobo did not give details of the pending cases and accused employees, the municipality’s 2024/25 Annual Report, released early this year, indicated that there were 12 such cases opened between 2022 and 2025.
The report stated that the pending cases involved fraud, corruption, murder, theft, sexual harassment and bringing the municipality into disrepute.
According to Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla’s presentation to SCOPA, the cases have been delayed due to postponements, withdrawal of disciplinary committee’s presiding officers or prosecutors, or waiting for the municipal manager to finalise the process of appointing new presiding officers and prosecutors.
Municipal Manager, Felani Mndebele, who was appointed to the position in August last year, told MPs that the nature of the cases caused delays, as it takes time for investigators to complete their work.
“In most cases, those doing investigations are threatened by the people being investigated, who say, ‘you will untimately meet your maker’, then you have to appoint another person.”
Mndebele said the municipality had resolved to source a disciplinary committee panel from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to conduct investigations, prosecution, and chairing of the disciplinary proceedings.
“This is because if we use our own staff, they get threats from those who have transgressed the law.
“That is why from time to time, a case would take a long time for investigation to be concluded,” said Mndebele.
Most of the municipality workers, who had cases, were brought back to work because, according to Ngcobo, the law does not allow a suspension to be longer than six months.
SCOPA Chairperson Songezo Zibi concluded that the municipality was in a catch-22 situation, as while it could not finalise the disciplinary cases, it was forced to bring alleged offenders back to work.
“If that (the threats) is the reason, it has nothing to do with the complexity of the investigation, but rather with thuggery and preventing processes.
“If it is not possible to suspend someone, it says to me it is not possible to dismiss them, and I cannot see how you can dismiss someone you are afraid to suspend,” said Zibi.
However, Ngcobo said, although there are threats in connection with some cases, “we do have dismissals”.
“There are cases that we are dealing with, where people have been involved in carrying firearms and threatening our staff, we continue to prosecute those people, and if it is a dismissal, it is a dismissal.
“We try by all means to use external SALGA panels because even if we use attorneys, unions are complaining that we cannot bring attorneys to fight our cases,” said Ngcobo.
She said cases of fraud under investigation were increasing.
“We are now making sure to fast-track the internal control unit that will make sure that we prevent these even before they happen,” said Ngcobo.
She said the council’s finance department incurred increasing fruitless and wasteful expenditure because its staff was suspended for more than six months.
“Then we brought them back to other departments, where they wouldn’t be involved in terms of cash. We move them to either waste, parks or any other department to avoid fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” said Ngcobo.
Thebolla said relocating the employees to other responsibilities does not mean charges against them have disappeared.
“If it is an investigation or a disciplinary process, it continues, because in terms of the collective agreement, someone cannot be suspended for a long period without concluding cases, as that ends up becoming a wasteful expenditure because they are always on paid suspension,” said Thebolla.
According to the annual report, an accounts officer was suspended on September 22, 2022, for allegedly committing fraud and corruption emanating from receiving kickbacks in exchange for giving unqualifying consumers an indigent status.
The disciplinary hearing in the matter stalled because a report, exhibits, and annexures disappeared in the municipal manager’s office.
A payroll clerk was suspended on October 21, 2022, after being charged with opening bogus accounts and allegedly transferring municipal funds for his own personal benefit. In this case, a previous disciplinary panel was disbanded and replaced by a new one on May 9, 2024, but the matter was adjourned until April 2025.
In the two cases, the accused employees were considered high risk and could not be returned to work until the completion of the disciplinary hearings.
A general assistant, identified as Thebolla’s bodyguard, was suspended on May 16, 2023, after the body of 22-year-old Nkosinathi Radebe was discovered in the boot of a municipality vehicle assigned to the bodyguard. Internal investigation in this case was not completed, and the matter was only referred to the police on November 30, 2024.
Other cases involved theft of the municipality’s forklift batteries and fuel.
There were also charges of assault of a fellow employee laid against the chief traffic officer, and two sexual harassment offences against a senior superintendent and a senior manager in the secretariat and auxiliary services.
The annual report also reflected an administration officer who was suspended on June 6, 2025, for bringing the municipality into disrepute after allegedly using social media on May 10, 2025, to cancel a municipality event without the prior approval or knowledge of the accounting officer.