This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Moneyweb reports that the chief financial officer and acting municipal manager at Mamusa Local Municipality in North West province, Mercy Phetla, has received death threats after she uncovered corruption and irregular payments within weeks of taking up the CFO position in April 2021.
There was an attempt to suspend her in December 2021 on charges of fraud and corruption, but she continues working away at her job – without pay, and having been removed as a signatory to the municipal bank account. Phetla maintains these charges are designed to deflect from the graft she unearthed, which has become the norm at Mamusa – the administrative centre of which is in Schweizer-Reneke – for the better part of a decade. “I have received death threats and have been warned numerous times to leave the area, but I am staying right here. I have sent my daughter back to my family home in Mpumalanga because of the threats, but I will not be intimidated. I have to stay and help clean up this mess,” said Phetla. A forensic report commissioned by Phetla and completed in January 2022 found direct acts of fraud valued at R40 million, with cumulative irregular expenditure for the current financial year standing at a staggering R564 million. For a municipality of Mamusa’s modest size, “this is a huge loss and clearly translated into poor service delivery throughout the municipality,” the report indicates. But, Phetla’s supposed replacement as municipal manager, Gaboroni Mothibi, says Phetla was suspended over allegations of fraud and corruption – the same accusations she has levelled at councillors and officials within the municipality – specifically relating to the commission of the forensic report.
- Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Ciaran Ryan at Moneyweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page