Embattled City of Tshwane CFO Umar Banda’s pressing software asking the Pretoria High Court to put aside his dismissal and restore him to his place will likely be heard on Thursday (21 December).
At the centre of the dispute is town’s audit consequence, which is often solely made public in January. According to an skilled, it appears pretty sure that it will likely be certified however it’s not but clear to what extent.
Banda has been accused of failing to make sure that the monetary statements submitted to the auditor-basic had been compliant with the regulation, and deceptive town management into pondering they had been.
The metropolis has been struggling a extreme liquidity crunch over the previous 12 months and was unable to pay Eskom on time each month for its bulk electrical energy purchases –regardless of a strict collections drive that noticed authorities departments and companies being disconnected for failing to pay their electrical energy payments.
Member of the mayoral committee Peter Sutton has acknowledged that it could take three years to show town’s funds round.
Extension, suspension, dismissal
This drama noticed the Tshwane council on 24 November approving a 3rd extension to Banda’s employment contract to 31 March 2023 – however as an alternative of supplying him with an modification to provide impact to the decision, metropolis supervisor Johann Mettler served him with a suspension discover on 1 December.
This was withdrawn the following day and changed with a discover of dismissal with quick impact. The metropolis did nevertheless provide to pay him for the remainder of the month.
Banda has been in control of town purse since 2017 and his 5-12 months contract ended on 30 June.
The council prolonged his contract for 3 months – twice. Each time he was supplied with an addendum to his contract to provide impact to the extension.
These extensions come to an finish on 31 December. The council lately marketed the emptiness and Banda says he plans to use. In the meantime the council authorized the additional extension to 31 March.
A mere seven days later Mettler served him with a discover of suspension, stating that he has introduced town into disrepute by way of his deliberate or negligent failure to submit compliant monetary statements. Thereby, states the letter, he has perpetrated monetary misconduct.
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Banda says in his court docket papers the council did not observe any disciplinary course of and didn’t give him a possibility to make representations earlier than he was suspended. He was forbidden from coming into any council property and needed to hand in his laptop computer and entry card. The subsequent day, when the suspension was withdrawn and he was summarily dismissed, no additional causes got.
He argues that the dismissal is illegal as a result of there isn’t a lawful motive for it, no correct course of was adopted, and the council is unaware of it and in reality prolonged his contract to 31 March.
He says in his court docket papers that being dismissed for monetary misconduct can have a devastating impact on his profession. Municipal employees who’re dismissed for monetary misconduct are blacklisted and is probably not employed in any municipality in South Africa for 10 years.
Ronald Oppelt, divisional head for labour relations administration on the City of Tshwane, concedes in an answering affidavit on behalf of town that the dismissal was illegal, however says it makes little distinction.
The metropolis was going to pay him till 31 December when his contract runs out anyway.
According to Oppelt the additional extension by the council was merely an authorisation – and as soon as Mettler turned conscious of the non-compliance of the monetary statements, town determined to not implement the authorisation.
He argues that Banda has no oral or written settlement of employment past 31 December and any such extension would have been illegal anyway. The council is ready to pay him as much as that date, however doesn’t require Banda to return to the workplace.
Audit consequence
Leon Claassen, an analyst at Ratings Afrika, says non-compliant monetary statements level to a certified audit consequence.
The stage of qualification isn’t but clear. It could also be a straight disqualification, or an hostile opinion, which is worse.
If the statements are so incomplete that Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke can not type an opinion, she could even problem a disclaimer.
Read: ‘No improvement’ in municipal administration in 2021: Auditor-General [Jun 2022]
