‘I’ll comply whatever the outcome’: Tshwane deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya on fraud investigation

Newly elected Tshwane deputy mayor Nasiphi Moya says she will comply with the outcomes or recommendations of an investigation into her alleged financial misconduct.

During her previous tenure as chief of staff in the mayor's office in 2020, Moya did not make it to a city-funded international trip and did not return the travel allowance she was paid.

"I didn't go on the trip. We were supposed to leave on the Monday, and on the Sunday I got an instruction to pull out of the trip because my then political principal was coming back from his special leave at the end of January, beginning of February," she said.

"I reported I will no longer be going on the trip to the acting city manager at the time, as well as the CFO. The allowance is usually paid a week before the trip takes place, and when the trip was cancelled I did not pay back the money."

The deputy mayor maintained there was no ill intent in the unfolding of events during that time.

"It was a lapse of judgment on my part. There was never a process that I had refused to participate in where the city tried to reclaim its funds. During that time there was a lot happening and it was one of those things where you forget. Four months down the line I left the city."

She said she was shocked when the details of the trip came to light hours before her election last Monday.

"Four years later on my way to council, there was a written statement from the EFF that this is the situation and I had to recall what happened four years ago. I reported to the relevant stakeholders, my party, the coalition and the executive mayor."

In council, the EFF demanded the election be halted until Moya's name is cleared, citing possible contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.

However, council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana proceeded to convene the special council meeting that elected Moya and referred the EFF's allegations to the city manager's office for investigation.

Moya said the situation was regrettable but she is willing to abide by the process and its outcomes.

"There's no excuse or justification to what happened or ill intention. While I can talk about what happened in 2020, it is going to be important to build confidence with the residents of the city. The council resolved to delegate the city manager to investigate and come up with recommendations about how to deal with the matter.

"I had committed to the executive mayor that whatever the recommendations — and the first one that comes to people's minds is 'pay back the money' — the report suggests, I will toe the line and adhere to it without contestation."

The status of the investigation and the disciplinary measures Moya may face when the process is complete are unclear.

"I have not been contacted yet by the city manager's office. The resolution to investigate was taken on Thursday afternoon. I don't have any records being referred to. I will depend on the city manager to provide those. I gave back everything when I left the city. 

"The best way forward is to wait for the city manager or his team to contact me and put allegations to me, allow me to participate in the process and I will cooperate fully. I don't want to be presumptuous and say the recommendations will stipulate I only pay back the money. I said I will pay back the money if the recommendations order me to. There has never been a refusal to not pay the money."

Despite her turbulent entry into office, Moya said she is certain she is fit to serve the residents of the city. She is also serving as a mayoral committee member (MMC) responsible for community and social development.

"The portfolio I have as an MMC is fitting. I am a nation builder at heart and that portfolio gives me what I want. I take care of the most vulnerable in the city, whether its early childhood development centres, the children, sports, arts, museums, the elderly, youth and women. It is all my passions coming together, which I am excited about. 

"On the other side of my duties is the deputy mayor portfolio, which is to oversee capital projects. Some are progressing well, and that's exciting. Some are not going very well, and I think that's one of the reasons why the position of deputy mayor was created, to push the work to progress into the vision of the city."

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