Dear Members,
At our AGM earlier this year we reinforced that the future well-being of Bitou would rest on the competence of the senior management in the Municipal Administration. With the shift in political leadership we were concerned that it would result in changes at the Director level. We understand that has in fact occurred and I want to share these concerns with you.
In January 2024, Municipal Manager Memani was suspended for misconduct and a forensic investigation was launched into his conduct.
Several sources confirmed that, on the basis of the investigation report and its recommendations, the council in April, took a decision to pursue disciplinary action against the Municipal Manager and appointed a prosecutor to initiate the process. In May however, council reversed this decision and has allegedly decided not to pursue the disciplinary process and to pay him a contract settlement of R4.2m, plus R500,000 toward his legal costs. We do not have the cost of the forensic investigation, which was no doubt significant.
The Plett Ratepayers have asked for the report and the relevant council decisions in order to get the facts and to understand the reasoning behind the decisions. This has not been forthcoming. Logic dictates that if the report shows evidence of maladministration, the disciplinary process must be followed. If it does not, there is obviously no justification to remove him from his position. Under the circumstances it would be irrational to pay him R4.7m to vacate his position. It was clear however that the new political leadership wanted to control this critical position and were prepared to spend in excess of R5m of ratepayer money to achieve this objective.
We are also informed that Council also allegedly voted to remove Felix Lotter from the CFO position and appoint him as Senior Manager of Compliance and Governance. Several sources have also confirmed that in order to achieve this move, the position was upgraded by two salary notches and a further incentive of ca.R1m was paid to achieve this move.
According to the mayor in a recent council meeting, Mr. Lotter asked to be transferred to the Senior Manager of Compliance and Governance position and was not enticed to do so. If that was true, providing the incentives for him to make the move can have no rational basis. The only imaginable reason for his move is for the new leadership to control this key position,. The move of such a competent CFO, who was responsible for getting Bitou back onto a sound financial footing after the maladministration of the previous administration implies cronyism over competence and should leave us all cold.
We are no strangers to this politically induced shuffling and fight over key positions in the administration. Although It is common practice across many municipalities in South Africa, it should have no place in the administration of a municipality. Typically this goes unchallenged and the true motivations are attempted to be hidden by secrecy and obfuscation. Similarly in Plett the Council is hiding behind non disclosure agreements and the POPI act. It has become customary for themunicipality to refuse our requests for information which should be freely available to the public, forcing us to take expensive legal action to ensure compliance with the law. This is unacceptable and we will persevere as far as our funds allow.
In past administrations we have seen corruption, maladministration, extortion, exploitation, cronyism and nepotism. This coupled with a lack of robust HR and disciplinary processes and unwillingness to hold management accountable, results in too many employees who have been charged with, or implicated in wrong doing still at work. Worse still, we are seeing the re-employment of senior managers who have previously left under a cloud of suspicion. This will be the subject of a future in depth communication exposing the extent of such practices.
As long as residents and ratepayers continue to fail to hold officials to count, we will continue to see politically expedient recruitment of senior positions which could threaten the level of competence. Past administrations have taught us that maladministration and financial distress is the natural conclusion.
We believe that the only remedy under the circumstances is to take the strongest possible action and take the Council’s decisions on review, have them set aside and at the same time motivate the court to award costs against the individuals who abuse the courts and public money for their own benefit and to the detriment of the municipality and the public.
To date we understand that some R10 m has been spent, or will be spent on “settlements”. It is nothing less than the abuse of power and resources that could have been spent on our aging infrastructure, new energy technology, replacing old asbestos pipes which leak and cost millions in lost water revenue, sewerage spills and the list goes on.
Our failure to intervene and expose this will give legal right of way and lead to but only one outcome… a failed and/or compromised Local Government. We have to draw a clear line and demand that this abuse of power comes to an end.
We are in the process of evaluating whether this council decision should be taken on review and overturned in the courts. The time has come for us to stand up for the rights of the public of Bitou.
We welcome your thoughts on this course of action.
Kind Regards,
Steve Pattinson
