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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dismissed City of Cape Town </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waste management executive director Luzuko Mdunyelwa is not going down without a fight after his axing more than two weeks ago.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mdunyelwa, who had held the position since September 2022, was dismissed after a confidential council meeting on 22 August 2024. Daily Maverick has obtained exclusive access to the disciplinary outcomes.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The disciplinary hearing found that he was guilty of misconduct. He initiated a new in-house project using municipal staff for refuse collection and cleaning in informal settlements across Cape Town, bypassing the required legal processes.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specifically, Mdunyelwa was found to have failed to comply with Section 78 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, which mandates a thorough assessment before changing or reviewing municipal service mechanisms.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He will be challenging his dismissal at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-08-26-city-of-cape-town-fires-waste-management-director-over-misconduct-charges/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">City of Cape Town fires waste management director over misconduct charges</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eight months after Mdunyelwa’s initial suspension and subsequent removal, waste collection challenges still exist in the affected communities and the municipality is yet to implement a new waste collection strategy.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Irregular and wasteful expenditure</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking to Daily Maverick for the first time since his firing, Mdunyelwa said he was not responsible for the termination of the waste collection contracts and did not understand why he was singled out.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The city tells the world that I’m found guilty of terminating contracts. I was charged with ‘causing the termination of contracts’. The officials who terminated contracts without authority were never charged. Instead, they became witnesses [for] the city,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said the same contracts he was fired for terminating were once found to be irregular and wasteful expenditure by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) in 2021/22. The municipality did not deny this and said they were consistently looking to improve its contract management capacity. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick has reported that about R500-million had been spent on service providers, but there were still filthy areas and service delivery complaints.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It took the department a year to reply to the city manager on corrective measures [it planned to implement], which corrective measures were never implemented anyway,” said Mdunyelwa.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“So contrary to popular belief, the AGSA declared those very contracts irregular, fruitless and wasteful.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Unfortunately there was an insinuation during the hearing that I am implementing political programmes relating to insourcing.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The leaders of the disciplinary process rejected this version. During the disciplinary process, it was discovered that Mdunyelwa’s letter to his subordinates contained instructions not to renew contracts and implement a new waste collection strategy.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is in contravention of Section 78 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, which mandates a thorough assessment before changing or reviewing municipal service mechanisms.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Once again, they are misdirected or completely confusing things deliberately,” Mdunyelwa said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They are deliberately infusing two or three projects into one. Hence, I informed the city lawyers many times, that they did not know what they were talking about or charging me for. I was subsequently accused and found guilty solely for being an argumentative person who is not cooperating or refusing to make the obvious concession because these lawyers wanted to agree to things which are documented but which they interpreted in their own way.” </span>\r\n<h4><b>City has ‘long-term vision’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibhongo did not respond directly to questions on the issues, but said the city was finalising its updated waste strategy, with public participation planned.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The strategy sets out the long-term vision and provides strategic direction for the manner in which waste is viewed and managed in Cape Town.</span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It not only looks at the responsibilities and services provided by local government and the private sector, but highlights and articulates the important role that residents play in achieving the city’s strategic goals.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said that an acting executive director was appointed in February 2024 and would oversee the directorate until a permanent appointment was made, with the recruitment process currently under way.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Service providers are continuing with waste collection with the assistance of Expanded Public Works Programme workers.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Consequence management is an ongoing process across all directorates of the city as part of a culture of accountability, and the city does not hesitate to investigate or institute disciplinary measures in instances where correct procedures are not followed,” said Tyhalibhongo.</span>\r\n<h4><b>Timeline</b></h4>\r\n<b>December 2023 – </b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mdunyelwa’s troubles began when a </span><a href=\"https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/senior-officials-blamed-for-waste-collection-collapse-in-cape-town-townships-526b0ee1-40bd-4a45-a597-2899b915d0dc#:~:text=Senior%20officials%20blamed%20for%20waste%20collection%20collapse%20in%20Cape%20Town%20townships,-Mayco%20member%20for&text=Cape%20Town%20%2D%20A%20forensic%20investigation,Town%20official%20as%20those%20responsible\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">forensic investigation</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> report, tabled in December 2023, into the collapse of waste-collection services in townships across Cape Town pointed to mayoral committee member for urban waste management Grant Twigg and Mdunyelwa as being responsible for the collapse.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report, which was tabled at the last council meeting in December, said Twigg and Mdunyelwa undertook the formation of a new “in-house” waste management model without the delegated authority.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the report fingered the pair, Mdunyelwa appeared to take the rap while Twigg remains in his position. </span>\r\n\r\n<b>January 2024</b> <b>–</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Following the adoption of the forensic report, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recommended to council that Mdunyelwa be placed on suspension.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-01-22-cape-town-moves-to-suspend-director-following-waste-management-collapse/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cape Town mayor moves to suspend director following collapse of waste management</span></a>\r\n\r\n<b>February 2024 – </b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city continued to face challenges in waste collection and Mdunyelwa was placed on suspension</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-02-city-of-cape-town-confirms-suspension-of-waste-management-director-as-communities-drown-in-trash/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cape Town waste management director suspended as communities drown in trash</span></a>\r\n\r\n<b>March 2024 –</b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Disciplinary action against Mdunyelwa began.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-03-07-city-of-cape-town-could-incur-r1m-legal-bill-for-waste-management-directors-disciplinary-hearing/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">City of Cape Town could incur R1m legal bill for waste management director’s disciplinary hearing</span></a>\r\n\r\n<b>March 2024 – </b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Waste collection workers in Khayelitsha, Strand, and Sir Lowry’s Pass embarked on a strike over non-payment of salaries, with some saying that they had not received payment since January.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more –</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-03-25-cape-town-contract-waste-collection-workers-down-tools-over-unpaid-wages-dating-to-january/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cape Town contract waste collection workers down tools over unpaid wages dating to January</span></a>\r\n\r\n<b>August 2024 – </b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The disciplinary hearing was completed and Mdunyelwa was fired after being found guilty of misconduct. </span><b>DM</b>",
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