The Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has wasted a staggering R132,374.09 to compensate an employee in the Municipal Manager’s Office for accrued leave in 2021, despite this violating the municipality’s Leave Administration Policy.
This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, in a written reply to the questions tabled by the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
According to MEC Mamabolo, Sipho Mnguni was employed in 2017 and held a managerial position at the Emfuleni municipality. His academic qualifications are unknown, as the MEC in the reply cites the POPI Act, asserting that “an employee’s confidential information is governed by the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013”.
MEC Mamabolo further explains that no other employee had encashed leave since 2021 when Mnguni did.
See the reply here.
The leave encashment of Mnguni contravenes the Emfuleni Local Municipality Leave Administration Policy, 2022, which stipulates that “an employee is entitled to retain a maximum of forty-eight (48) days of accrued leave; any leave in excess of this is forfeited at the end of the leave cycle unless it was accrued due to operational purposes”.
The leave encashment raises suspicion, especially because it occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic when everyone was expected to work from home, which would eliminate the possibility of accruing leave due to operational services.
The revelations raise concerns about the municipality’s expenditures, as only one employee received a large sum of money for accrued days and the DA has been reliably informed that some employees who applied for leave encashment were denied.
The DA demands that MEC Mamabolo launch an urgent investigation into the handling of this payout. We need to know why Mnguni’s wasteful payout was allowed given the financial struggles the municipality finds itself in.
Residents do not have access to uninterrupted water supply, roads are full of potholes, and Eskom has attached the municipality’s bank accounts. The money wasted could have been utilised to address some of these difficulties and help provide better services to Emfuleni residents who have been struggling for years now.
A DA government will implement Emfuleni’s Leave Administration Policy and ensure that the municipality’s financial resources are used to benefit residents rather than a select few individuals.
The DA is dedicated to uncovering and eliminating wasteful spending in a time of scarcity and inadequate service delivery in the crumbing Emfuleni municipality.