Jason Ngobeni will reportedly receive an annual salary package of between R2.1 and R2.7 million

Johannesburg city’s executive director for economic development, Jason Ngobeni, has been appointed municipal manager of the Tshwane Metro.

According to the report, Ngobeni was appointed at a council meeting on Thursday after both Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus members walked out of the meeting in protest against insufficient notice having been given for the meeting.

Ngobeni will reportedly receive an annual salary package of between R2.1 and R2.7 million.

The report said he was expected to take up his new post on September 1.

Ngobeni’s R2.7 annual salary package will exceed the golden handshake paid out to his predecessor Kiba Kekana.

Kekana was suspended in October, 2009 on 11 allegations of mismanagement. Five of these charges were subsequently dropped.

Some 13 months later in November 2010 he was given a R2.6 million golden handshake after an investigation by advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza proved inconclusive and indicated that there was no reasonable prospect of success by the municipality had it wanted to  prosecute Kekana.

At the time the Pretoria News reported that Ntsebeza and the then mayor Gwen Ramokgopa had clashed over the dropping of charges against Kekana, which allegedly had the potential to implicate Ramokgopa in wrongdoing.

It said Kekana had allegedly failed to control Gwen Ramokgopa’s expenditure, and allegations related to her receiving a housing allowance while occupying a municipal-owned house, and the municipality paying for all her cellphone calls.