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Maphisa was employed as corporate services director of Emadlangeni on July 14 2022 after falsely claiming in her CV that she had five years of middle management experience from her previous employment at Ulundi Local Municipality.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A wife of a former mayor and IFP leader in KwaZulu-Natal is embroiled in another job scandal of being allegedly given a post created specifically for her following her resignation in a municipality for falsifying and embellishing her CV.

Nonkululeko Maphisa resurfaced as deputy director at the Amajuba District Municipality’s disaster centre in Newcastle last month after her unceremonious departure at the Emadlangeni Local Municipality in Utrecht.

Maphisa’s husband is former Abaqulusi mayor and IFP national executive committee member, Mncedisi Maphisa, who was fired and demoted after making crude remarks about women. A Special Ethics Committee of the Abaqulusi council made adverse findings against him after a hearing.

The Emadlangeni council conducted a forensic investigation when independent researcher, Maxwell Nzuza,  found that Maphisa misrepresented many facts in her CV and application form. 

Maphisa was employed as corporate services director of Emadlangeni on July 14 2022 after falsely claiming in her CV that she had five years of middle management experience from her previous employment at Ulundi Local Municipality. According to the IFP's beauty pageant page, she was the youngest director in local municipalities throughout the country.

She claimed she worked as assistant manager for legal services at Ulundi while, in fact, she was only an intern. The post of assistant manager did not exist at the time Maphisa indicated in her CV.

After receiving a forensic audit report from The Corruption Hotline (Pty) Ltd, the Emadlangeni council however accepted her resignation and decided against instituting a civil claim against Maphisa – to recoup all the money she earned – due to “projected costs and a long process that may be involved in the legal proceedings in this matter.”

Maphisa earned R905 000 per annum at Emadlangeni, and was paid about R525 000 in the seven months she worked at the municipality.

The IFP-led council resolved to open a case with the police, but it is unclear if they had done so. Embarrassed by the forensic investigation’s outcome, Maphisa resigned with immediate effect on January 22 2023, and went job-hunting. Maphisa claimed in her resignation letter that she enjoyed her job even though she was slandered.

Before resigning, and seeing that her days were numbered, she allegedly claimed she was sick but went to an interview for a director post at Endumeni Local Municipality in Dundee on January 4 where she came second. Maphisa had taken sick leave from January 2 to January 17.

Sources at Amajuba District told The People’s Eye that the post was neither on the organogram nor allocated a budget. The post was also not advertised. “Word is going around that those close to the Maphisas were given a political mandate to hire her urgently, hence the post was not advertised,” a source said.

Amajuba municipal manager, Phindithemba Manqele, and Maphisa did not respond to written questions sent to them.

The Emadlangeni council’s resolution on Maphisa was very soft and lenient as compared to what The Corruption Hotline (Pty) Ltd recommended.

The forensic company found no political interference in Maphisa’s appointment, but recommended that:

·      Council should consider declaring her appointment irregular;

·      Council should consider taking disciplinary action against Maphisa in line with the Municipality Disciplinary Code and Procedure;

·      Council should consider recovering from Maphisa the unauthorised remuneration paid to her (Ms. Maphisa) in a form of salaries in accordance with Section 31 of the Public Service Act; and

·      Council should consider instituting criminal proceedings against Ms Maphisa for fraud.

The Corruption Hotline noted that when Maphisa applied for the job at Emadlangeni, her supporting documents, including copies of her qualification certificates, driver's license, ID, and affidavit, were commissioned in Vryheid on March 31 2022, which was the closing date for application for the position.

 

Maphisa’s husband has also failed in his application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to have his demotion as Abaqulusi mayor set aside.

The IFP demoted him after the Abaqulusi Special Ethics Committee made adverse findings against him for creating a maelstrom in a staff and public meeting where he made crude and sexist remarks to emphasise his authority and power.

The former mayor had told a staff meeting that: “I’m the only bull that has testicles here. I mate with all the cows here. If there is anyone else who wants to be a bull, I will cut his testicles, or he cuts mine.”

According to the special ethics committee report dated May 15 2023, one female ward committee member testified how she felt her dignity degraded by the then mayor, young enough to be her son, telling her she was a cow he could mate with.

Abaqulusi corporate services director Sibongokuhle Dlamini told the committee that Maphisa’s remarks affected her marriage as her husband heard an audio-recording referring to her by name.

Dlamini provided the committee with a text message wherein her husband asked her why the mayor directed those words to her specifically, which meant she was part of his harem.