The Citizen reports that the City of Tshwane has placed five senior officials on precautionary suspension for the controversial Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant tender award.

This follows a year-long internal disciplinary process, which found them guilty on only one of the four charges they faced. Last Wednesday, the City issued the five officials with an intended letter of suspension and afforded them the opportunity to make representations on why they should not be suspended. On Friday, the final decision to place them on precautionary suspension with full pay was taken. The officials were found not guilty on three charges, but were found guilty on one of the charges. The guilty verdict related to the technical evaluation of a piece of equipment installed at Rooiwal, and the presiding officer of the disciplinary process recommended a one-month suspension without pay for all five officials. However, Tshwane disagreed with the outcome and said it would appeal the entire outcome of the disciplinary process at the Labour Court. City manager Johann Mettler commented:   "The officials are senior employees of the municipality and majority of them on the BEC are engineers and ought to have applied themselves properly when evaluating the tender regarding the belt presses." Spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “The City is of the view that, their continued presence at the workplace, will be detrimental to the stability of the municipality”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Vhahangwele Nemakonde at The Citizen
• See too, Tshwane suspends five officials for gross negligence in Rooiwal tender, seeks to dismiss them outright, at News24
• En ook, Vyf van Tshwane voorlopig geskors oor Rooiwal-tender, by Maroela Media

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