Did City MMC and Youth League leader instruct Johannesburg Property Company to pay for ANCYL function?

By Ferial Haffajee

2 Aug 2023

‘It’s outright corruption by politicians,’ says trade union Samwu, while the MMC denies it.

A whistle-blower has said in a protected disclosure that an ANC Youth League executive member who is also a Johannesburg MMC instructed him to pay an events invoice for the party in July.

The acting CFO of the Johannesburg Property Company, Sipho Mzobe, has made a whistle-blower report in which he says the MMC, Nomoya Mnisi, instructed him to pay an invoice for a Youth League conference in July. The price tag: almost R800 000 (see invoice below).

Mnisi is a member of the mayoral committee in Johannesburg and also an ANC Youth League national executive committee member, where she is responsible for fundraising. She has denied speaking to Mzobe or submitting the invoice. “I have never instructed him to settle a Youth League conference invoice,” Mnisi told Daily Maverick.

Mzobe’s disclosure says he refused the instruction and said his treatment by Mnisi had traumatised him. “I am not sure what wrong I have done to the MMC, except to refuse to deal with an invoice… addressed to Cllr (councillor) Mnisi. I did not pay such an invoice as it did not relate to JPC operations. This aggravated issues with the MMC more determined that I be removed from finance,” reads Mzobe’s protected disclosure.

Mzobe is a member of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), which has waived the right to confidentiality in the public interest. “It’s outright corruption,” says Samwu’s Karabo Ramahuma, who is the Gauteng treasurer and represents the whistle-blower.

Samwu has lodged a concern with city manager Floyd Brink, JPC CEO Helen Botes and board chairperson Enos Sithole.

“It has come to our attention that one of our members, Mr Sipho Mzobe, is being victimised and harassed at a political level,” Samwu wrote.

The trade union’s letter also details how Mnisi allegedly threatened board members by message and that she is trying to hand-pick executives and board members of the JPC. The JPC is one of Johannesburg’s wealthiest entities. It controls a portfolio of 64,000 City-owned properties worth R8.6-billion.

Mnisi says she was doing her political oversight work and that Mzobe was not allowed to act as CFO for more than three months. This was why he was now “throwing his toys around”, she said. “Who victimised him?” she asked.

Mzobe has subsequently stepped back into his former role as a financial manager at the JPC.

Repeated scandals

The City’s public property company has been embroiled in repeated scandals, most recently in spending on personal protective equipment. (See Mark Heywood’s report here). The company is about to oversee R2-billion refurbishment of the City’s metropolitan building and a “decant” into adjacent properties by at least 20,000 staff members that will cost citizens hundreds of millions of rands. The JPC board will oversee this contract.

Mzobe alleged in his disclosure that Mnisi had railed against him for more than two hours in a board meeting and believes it is because he also blew the whistle against the previous political incumbent. Mzobe alleged that ActionSA’s Nkuli Mbundu had tried to interfere in JPC contracts when he had political oversight under a different coalition. (Mbundu denied the claims at the time.)

The whistle-blower alleged that Mnisi wants to make her own permanent appointment to the acting CFO role.

“The CFO position has been advertised twice but due to political influence, the shortlisting and interview process thereof has stalled, as you are aware. I have been reliably informed that the MMC has instructed governance to stall the finalisation of the permanent CFO (position) as her preferred candidate did not apply until the validity of the current advert expires in order to re-advertise again,” Mzobe wrote.

He also said a board member had told him the MMC was “giving them unlawful instructions”, and he alleged she encouraged information leaks from the board. Samwu has provided screenshots from Mnisi’s phone to show her messages to board members. (See below).

Politicians are supposed to operate at arm’s length from the City’s entities to insulate the administration from the executive. Mnisi’s alleged actions rode roughshod over numerous municipal laws and regulations.

On Tuesday, 1 August, ActionSA laid a criminal complaint against Mnisi.

Comment and context: Most of Johannesburg’s R80-billion budget is spent through municipal entities such as the JPC, making them a prime target for political interference and rent extraction. This has occurred through successive city governments. The Youth League invoice is relatively tiny but reveals the risk of political interference and local state capture.

Johannesburg has had five mayors since the 2021 election and is the most unstable of Gauteng’s metropolitan coalition governments. DM

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Repeated scandals