CITY OF TSHWANE SPEAKER NDZWANANA MAY BE AXED FROM HIS POSITION

City of Tshwane speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana photo by Dimakatso Modipa

City of Tshwane Municipal Council Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana is in for a rough ride as he may be axed from his position.

This after damning allegations were made against him in a document which Tshwane Talks is in possession of.

Ndzwanana who is a sole representative of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) in the City of Tshwane Council chambers, was elected to the Speaker’s position through the vigorous backing of the ANC and EFF in the City of Tshwane in 2023.

Ndzwanana’s election process lasted for a historic, marathon- like 15 hours and was literally marred by fist-fighting between ANC Councillors who were supported by EFF Councillors on the one hand and DA, FF Plus and ActionSA Councillors on the other hand.

The three-page document, headlined “The Collapse of The Office of The Speaker, ” lists a plethora of shenanigans allegedly committed by Ndzwanana in his Spaeker’s office.

“We in the office of the Speaker are in danger and all this points to a lack of political leadership in that office and almost the entire staff component is demoralised, lives in fear and gets traumatised every day,

“reads the document in part.

“The office is in disarray and one individual is causing havoc under the protection of the Speaker and what brings more chaos is the level of chaos is the level of interference by the Speaker in administrative affairs,

”reads the document further.

The document reveals that several directors in the office of the Speaker are often called into meetings and asked what their complaints are about Divisional Heads.

In the document Speaker Ndzwanana is accused of the following:

1.Appointing his own girlfriend, known as “Baby Mama” among staff members, as Divisional Head without disclosing this to the Tshwane Municipality Council.

According to the document, Speaker Ndzwanana has a child with the girlfriend and the said girlfriend was appointed to the position of Divisional Head so that there won’t be any need for Ndzwanana to pay maintenance for the baby as the girlfriend would be earning some money of her own as an employee of the City of Tshwane in the Speaker’s office.

Now to make matters worse, the document states that the said “Baby Mama” is herself forced to pay monthly donations to the Speaker from the salary that she gets as a staff member in the Speaker’s office and has already started complaining that the monthly payments she is making to the Speaker are unreasonable.

The document says the “Baby Mama’s” credentials are questionable and that they must be investigated as she apparently has no clue on operations in the Speaker’s office but she instead spends more time insulting staff members rather than managing and directing their duties as junior employees.

2.Destructive activities of the “Baby Mama” who at any given time works only for 3 weeks and is allowed to take a 2-week dodgy leave in contravention of the established leave policy of the Speaker’s office.

3.Besides having an affair with the Speaker himself, “Baby Mama” has a romantic relationship with one of the senior officials in the Speaker’s office and the relationship has become an irritation to the rest of the staff members.

It is said in the damning document that the “Baby Mama” and the said senior official would disappear during lunch only to come back to work very late in the afternoon and accuse staff members of falsifying their knock-off times, and those who are unlucky would subsequently receive threatening warning letters on their desks.

4.The Speaker is insolvent and this makes him a weak link, and he will soon tarnish the image of the City of Tshwane Metro.

The document says the church to which Ndzwanana belongs had to intervene and house him at its premises, which is a sign of an undisclosed, deep-rooted problem which indicates that the Speaker is in dire financial straits.

5.Collecting huge amounts of money from junior officials in his Speaker’s office a few months ago and in one instance the son of a junior employee from whom Ndzwanana had collected money sent threatening signals to recover the money taken from his mother, who is a widow, by Ndzwanana.

It is further alleged in the document that he collected R10 000 from the son of one of the Councillors in the City of Tshwane Municipality and has not repaid the money up until now.

6.Collecting money from service providers (tenderpreneurs who have won contracts in the City of Tshwane).

The document reveals that the Speaker knows about these money transfers to him which have been running up ran until May last year and that proof in this regard will be handed to law-enforcement agencies soon.

The document emphasises that the morale among staff members in the Speaker’s office has taken a nose-dive and that all employees in the office are willing to share their traumatic experiences.

In a reponse released by Media Relations Specialist Mzwandile Khathi, the following statement was submitted to Tshwane Talks:

“The City of Tshwane Speaker of Council, Cllr Mncedi Ndzwanana has noted the contents of the shared screen shots, and while the Speaker remains firmly committed to the principles of fairness and transparency in the workplace, it is not possible to respond to allegations or informal claims in the absence of a formally lodged complaint.”

The statement further states that no formal complaint has been submitted to the Speaker or to Council regarding the matters raised in the screen shots and as such these allegations cannot be entertained and are regarded as office water cooler gossip.

“The Speaker encourages any individual with legitimate concerns or grievances to report them through appropriate Human Resources channels to enable proper investigation and action and where there is fear of victimisation, complaints may be submitted anonymously,

”read the statement.

“Until a formal complaint is lodged and supported by evidence, no further engagement on these matters will be undertaken, ”concluded the statement from the office of the speaker.