Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

Woes continue to mount for the beleaguered Greater Ba-Phalaborwa local municipality in Limpopo.

The municipality, which has made headlines for the wrong reasons, has lost yet another top official.

Advocate Anderson Mudun-ungu, known as Mr Clean after winning the national coveted Cleanest Town competition in 2005, has decided to call it quits.

Mudunungu will leave the municipality on January 7 to pursue a legal career.

He qualified as an advocate in 2004, a year after he joined the municipality.

Mayor Gloria Valoyi yesterday confirmed that Mudunungu was leaving the municipality.

Valoyi said Mudunungu decided not to assume his position as community services director when the new manager takes over next year.

"We have since asked him to continue acting as the municipal manager until the new manager takes over," said Valoyi.

According to Valoyi, Mudunungu took over as acting municipal manager after Isaiah Nyathi was fired.

"He has acted in the position for nearly a year since December last year.

"The time has come for us to release him," she said.

Mudunungu has won the municipality the Cleanest Town competition, which saw the municipality walking away with R1million.

He also won Greater Ba-Phalaborwa local municipality the Provincial Vuna Award and the hearts of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which injected R270million for infrastructural development in Phalaborwa.

To his staff members, Mudunungu will be remembered as the father of service delivery for the strides he made while still with the municipality.

But to his foes, he will be remembered as Mr Stick after he was accused of sexually harassing his secretary on Valentine's Day. The secretary claimed that Mudunungu told her he wanted to show her his stick, referring to his penis.

Asked about his feelings on leaving the troubled municipality after so many years, he said: "I have enjoyed every moment while working for this municipality. It is the only thing I have a calling for."