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Suspended officials to return to work in Nelson Mandela Bay‚ says mayor

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani.
Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani.
Image: Werner Hills

All suspended officials at the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality whose disciplinary cases have been dragging on for longer than three months will be back at work by next week‚ mayor Mongameli Bobani has proclaimed.

Bobani said the council’s new leaders were unapologetic about their decision to bring back staff‚ announcing that charges against the likes of housing director Mvuleni Mapu‚ internal audit director Bonment nie Chan‚ chief forensic auditor Werner Wiehart‚ and public health managers Nkosinathi Dolo‚ Joram Mkosana‚ Thabo Williams and Andile Tolom would be dropped.

Some of the officials have been sitting at home for years. The dropping of charges was to avoid any further “wasteful expenditure”‚ he said.

This came as new acting city boss Peter Neilson made the first move to withdraw some of the longstanding disciplinary and legal cases against municipal staff by reinstating legal services official Nobuntu Mgogoshe.

On Wednesday‚ he instructed the city’s lawyers to withdraw its Labour Court review application against Mgogoshe‚ who won her unfair dismissal case at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council.

Last night‚ Bobani told The Herald the decision to bring back suspended staff had been taken before the coalition government came to power on August 27.

He said the decision followed extensive engagements with the unions.

- HeraldLIVE

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