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By Thami Magubane 
8h ago
Durban – EMBATTLED eThekwini City Manager Sipho Nzuza has been stripped of his powers to approve procurement and supply chain management matters on behalf of the municipality.
Responsibility has now been delegated to the municipal deputy director of governance Sipho Cele, who acted in the position of municipal administrator when Nzuza was suspended.
Speaking at the city executive committee meeting, Nzuza expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, saying it could undermine his ability to do his job.
Nzuza is out on bail after being arrested for his alleged role in the R430 million Durban solid waste fraud and corruption case involving former mayor Zandile Gumede, other city officials, councilors and businesses.
DA leader at eThekwini, Nicole Graham, raised the matter Tuesday, demanding to know what role Nzuza was playing in the hiring, a move that could violate her condition of bail.
Graham said Tuesday’s exco report showed that there were many acquisition-related issues that Nzuza appeared to be approving of.
“We must know who is signing acquisitions worth more than R10 million. This makes me uncomfortable. “
When it was revealed that Nzuza had delegated the role to Cele, Graham objected to that, saying that the decision to decide who would approve the documents should have been made by exco.
“With all due respect, how do we know that Cele is not doing what Nzuza tells her to do?
“The ANC thinks it’s okay to let Nzuza decide what to delegate and what not to delegate. We believe this is a recipe for disaster, ”he said.
Nzuza expressed frustration at calls from the opposition to further restrict his powers, and said the exco should differentiate between acts that could be construed as a violation of the conditions of his bail and could lead to prosecution and those that could prevent you from doing your job.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said that even if exco had delegated some of Nzuza’s functions, it would be impossible to avoid collusion between employees if they wanted to.
He said that Exco was confident in Cele’s ability and character, saying he was a man of integrity who would not put himself in a compromising position.
He said Nzuza also wouldn’t put himself in a position where he could violate his bail conditions.
“We all know that Cele is an ethical and upright person who had been charged with handling some of the sensitive matters while Nzuza was away,” he said.
Kaunda urged Nzuza not to view exco’s demands as a personal attack on him.
“I don’t think that when problems arise it is because they have personal problems against you. They are raised so that we are sure, so that it does not emerge in the audit that this person should not have signed here.
“This is new territory for the municipality, so the municipal administrator has to do some problems and cannot deal with some problems,” Kaunda said.
The Mercury
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