Cape Town - A fraud case has been opened against the acting municipal manager of the DA-run Bitou Municipality.
On Monday, the municipality’s expenditure senior manager, Ntho Maredi, was appointed in the position of acting municipal manager following the resignation of former acting municipal manager, Richard Bosman. He held the position for a mere 55 days.
Maredi’s appointment was made despite three other directors that could have done the job at no extra cost.
Ikhwezi Political Movement (IPM) president Nokuzola Kolwapi said they found damning evidence that Maredi didn’t have the qualifications he claimed to possess. “More especially, the qualification of national diploma in cost and management. After the vetting process, it was clear that the claim for this diploma was fraudulent.”
The Weekend Argus has a 2019 letter from the municipality’s human resources division, asking Maredi to provide proof of his cost and management qualification.
“The human resources management division has perused your employee file and note that there is no copy of your qualification in respect of a national diploma: cost and management accounting, obtained from the former Technikon RSA, on your employee file as mentioned in your curriculum vitae.
“You are therefore required to provide the division with proof of this qualification by 30 September 2019,” reads the letter.
Another document from the vetting process showed that Maredi didn’t have the qualification. “Cost and management accounting is a highly important qualification for senior managers within the finance department,” said Kolwapi.
“We have seen how detrimental it is when you do not have qualified people in the right jobs . Corruption and maladministration grow. This is becoming a cancer in our country where people steal jobs from people who are fully qualified.”
Bitou municipal spokesperson, Andile Namntu, confirmed that the letter was authentic but said questions should be sent to the mayor who is the political head.
When mayor Dave Swarts responded through Namntu he said. “I have satisfied myself that the CV presented by Mr Maredi prior to his appointment as acting municipal manager of Bitou Municipality does not contain any reference to the qualification in question.
“This is the same CV that was considered by Bitou Municipality when he was appointed to his current senior manager position. All the competencies required for the position of a municipal manager have been completed by Mr Maredi.”
Swart did not respond to the question of whether Maredi provided the HR department with proof of his qualifications, or why was he sent the letter if his CV didn’t contain the qualification.
Maredi, when called for a comment, said he was boarding a flight. After a long wait for him to arrive at his destination, he ignored calls.
Swarts was given seven days to institute an investigation.
DA governments are no stranger to qualification sagas. Former provincial leader and MEC, Bonginkosi Madikizela, had to resign after revelations that he lied about his qualifications.
The DA is yet to release its findings on former mayco member Xanthea Limberg and current deputy caucus leader JP Smith who faced allegations of misrepresentation of qualifications.
Weekend Argus