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EFF MP, Sihle Lonzi. has lodged a complaint with Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, about ANCYL treasurer-general Zwelo Masilela’s employment as senior researcher in the City of Mbombela.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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ANC Youth League (ANCYL) treasurer-general, Zwelo Masilela, has left the hullabaloo around his political deployment in the City of Mbombela nine years ago to the council to clarify.

Masilela’s employment as a senior researcher in the Mpumalanga capital city in 2016 is under investigation by the Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, following a complaint lodged by EFF Member of Parliament, Sihle Lonzi.

Lonzi is questioning the fact that Masilela got the position before he had obtained a tertiary qualification. The dispute arose when the ANCYL treasurer attended interviews for the identification of suitable candidates to be appointed to the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) board.

Lonzi was interviewing Masilela last week when he indicated that he obtained his Journalism Diploma from the Tshwane University of Technology in 2021. The MP said he was worried by this fact as Masilela had already been employed in the municipality for five years.

The politician has since obtained an Advanced Diploma in Public Administration and is studying towards his honour’s degree in public administration. He said that in 2021 he finished two outstanding subjects after a hiatus stemming from his decision to accept employment in the ANC and later in the City of Mbombela.

Masilela was initially appointed as a PA in the office of the ANC’s chief whip in 2014. Ensuing changes in the ANC’s political leadership and a Municipal Demarcation Board’s decision to amalgamate Mbombela with its neighbour municipality, Umjindi in Barberton, complicated the youth leader’s position.

Masilela told The People’s Eye Podcast in an exclusive interview last weekend that he was employed before the national Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs introduced the framework for the professionalisation of local government.

WATCH PODCAST: I'm prepared to account (after controversial NYDA interviews) - ANCYL treasurer, Zwelo Masilela.

“Just for people to know, I was employed in a political office. I was a PA to the chief whip. At that time there was no Act to professionalise municipalities. It was only introduced in 2016 and came into effect in 2021,” he said.

“The [post] was permanent. My chief whip left in 2016 and a new one said I don’t want to work with you. Remember, at that time there was amalgamation of Mbombela and Mjindi municipalities. There was a process of placing people (of both municipalities). It took two years. They were not placing people according to their qualifications but according to salary scales. That’s how I got placed (as a researcher),” Masilela added.

He said that he dived into his new role and performed his duties as expected. “The removal of my chief whip created problems. Otherwise, I would have continued being a PA.”

Masilela said that the placement process took two years and was frustrating, but he endured it because he wanted to keep his employment.

He said that he was not worried by the Public Protector’s investigation and had told the truth during the NYDA interviews.

“There are institutions [University of Tshwane and City of Mbombela] implicated. They’ve already indicated that they will respond to clarify all the issues that have been raised. There are no issues of guilt or [wrongdoing] on my part. The institutions will clarify those issues in 10 days,” Masilela said.

He said that he was a politician and expected that some people may not like him.

“There was never anything sinister. You know, in this country, there is always an obsession with sensationalising issues. I knew that I was in a public platform and had to respond and I did. From where I’m sitting, there’s no crisis. I just believe that when you are a treasurer-general of a big organisation, people will have an interest in you. I was probably the only high-profile politician in the list of 20 young people who were interviewed,” Masilela said.

He added that beside the issue of his employment, he believed that he performed well and would have managed to convince the committee to appoint him to the NYDA board.

Masilela said he would be happy to walk away if the Public Protector found that he did something wrong.

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