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·      MEC Mashilo gave a directive to Mbombela coucillors to terminate CFO’s contract ·      MP High Court find that Mashilo was reckless and risked plunging the municipality into financial chaos ·      CFO’s removal was based on malice, sinister motives and desire to perpetuate illegality

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Mpumalanga Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) MEC, Speedy Mashilo, has thrown City of Mbombela councillors into personal debt after flip-flopping in a lengthy dispute about the appointment of the council’s chief finance officer.

The Mpumalanga High Court reinstated Ntombifuthi Sibanyoni into her position on October 2 after the council terminated her five-year contract on April 30 this year and ordered councillors to pay the legal costs from their own pockets.

Sibiya’s contract had three more years to run as it expires on January 31 2028.

She got into trouble when Mashilo’s predecessor, Mandla Msibi, did not concur with her appointment following an investigation by the municipality into allegations of embellishing her CV.

The investigation found against Sibanyoni and sparked a series of court challenges as she regarded it as a witch hunt. Msibi went to court to declare Sibanyoni’s appointment null and void due to misrepresentation on her CV.

When Mashilo took over at Coghsta a year later, he withdrew the  court application on October 29 2024.

“Ordinarily,” said Acting Judge MI Mangena, “this would have been the end of the ordeal for the applicant (Sibanyoni), but not in the Mbombela Municipality, which has become a feeding trough for avaricious politicians and businesspeople alike.”

Mangena added:  “The withdrawal was a temporary reprieve as Mashilo was to strike again, and this time without notice to the applicant as to what led to the change in position. He owed her no explanation – after all, he is in charge. He is the MEC.”

Surprisingly,  on April 4 this year Mashilo wrote to City of Mbombela mayor Sibongile Makushe-Mazibuko telling her that he was not supporting Sibanyoni’s appointment due to misrepresentation of her CV.

Mashilo further advised Makushe-Mazibuko to take the matter to council so that a decision could be taken to reverse Sibanyoni’s appointment. He demanded in 30 days.

The council thereafter took a decision to terminate Sibanyoni’s contract, but they were not aware that Mashilo had thrown them under the bus.

Judge Mangena also highlighted Makushe-Mazibuko’s role in enforcing Mashilo’s decision.  “The Executive Mayor did not disappoint. [She] cajoled the Speaker [William Nkatha] to convene a council meeting on 30 April 2025, where [she] surreptitiously sneaked in the report calling for the rescission of the decision taken in 2023 for the appointment of the CFO. The report was adopted by the Council and brought to an end the appointment of the applicant as CFO of the City of Mbombela, effective from 1 June 2025,” she said.

Mangena said that the municipality, more especially Makushe-Mazibuko and the council, failed in their duties and allowed themselves to be dictated to by MEC Mashilo.

“They should all be liable for the costs on an attorney and client scale, jointly and severally liable, one paying the other to be absolved,” the judge said.

“It is concerning that an MEC with unlimited exposure to legal advice both internally and externally can choose to be so reckless in the execution of his duties and risk plunging the municipality into financial chaos. The removal of the CFO was, based on the facts before me, actuated by malice, sinister motives and desire to perpetuate illegality. It was not for a lawful purpose.”

Mangena’s judgment indicates that Msibi was not wrong for acting on allegations of maladministration and irregular appointments in a municipality falling under his jurisdiction as the law allowed him to do so.

She however pointed out that the Municipal Systems Act did not require an MEC to “concur” to appointment of Section 56 managers.

“All that it says is that the Municipal Council must, within 14 days of the date of appointment, inform the MEC for local government of the appointment process and outcome. Nowhere does it use the word “concur”, nor does it give him/her power to play any role in the appointment process,” Mangena said.

The judgment declared Mashilo’s directive to the council to rescind Sibanyoni’s appointment unlawful and set it aside.

The court also declared the municipality’s investigation on Sibanyoni’s misrepresentation of CV unlawful and set it aside. The court also set aside the termination of Sibanyoni’s contract and set it aside.

Nkatha had been opposed to Sibanyoni’s removal. He spared himself the burden of forking out any money from his own pocket.