News24 reports that the fraud-accused city manager of Nelson Mandela Bay, Noxolo Nqwazi was suspended in an emergency council meeting on Friday.
Of the 120 councillors, 62 voted for Nqwazi's removal. Nqwazi is on trial in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on fraud and corruption charges. The charges stem from her alleged involvement in a toilet tender of more than R24 million, which was fraudulently awarded by the municipality a few years ago. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana highlighted her removal as one of the conditions to disburse more than R700 million in equitable share grant funding owed to the municipality since July. Godongwana indicated that, if the City failed to take disciplinary action against Nqwazi, he would take further steps, including withholding the next equitable share grant or approaching the provincial executive council to intervene. The mayor, Gary van Niekerk, said there was no timeframe to the precautionary suspension, but mentioned that the chief operations officer, Christopher Dyani would be acting City manager for no longer than three months. The matter was referred to the disciplinary board.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Candice Bezuidenhout at News24 (subscriber access only)
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