Zille denies staff purge
2006-04-08 16:18
Cape Town - Cape Town mayor Helen Zille on Saturday denied that there had
been any purge on staff at the Cape Town Civic Centre.
"Press reports that there has been a staff purge at the Civic
Centre are incorrect," Zille said in a statement.
Some contract political appointees in the office of the mayor,
deputy mayor and mayoral committee, whose contracts had ended on
March 1, were renewed for three months by Cape Town city manager
Wallace Mgoqi without reference to the new, multi-party government,
explained Zille.
Mgoqi himself has been at the centre of a controversy since
Zille said she intended to fire him if he did not accept her offer
to renew his contract for three months.
Former ANC mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo extended Mgoqi's contract by
one year, but the legality of the contract was now being
contested
by the DA-led city.
On Saturday, an urgent application in the Cape High Court by
Mgoqi, to prevent the city council's meeting on Monday to decide on
his fate, had been withdrawn, SABC radio news reported.
While Monday's meeting will go ahead, a court application to
challenge the validity of decisions at the meeting would instead be
heard on May 9.
On the issue of staff at the Civic Centre, Zille said the
council had honoured their contract extensions.
"Yesterday (Friday) 18 of these political contract appointees
were given the option of going on leave for the remainder of their
contracts or work elsewhere in the Civic Centre. That is standard
practice, and their departure does not constitute a purge of any
kind."
Zille said some appointees of the previous government had been
offered contract renewals.
The political contract appointees - except for those who were
not at work on Friday - were informed personally and timeously.
"Those who were not at work had to be tracked down
telephonically. This applied to Frank van der Velde who was an
African National Congress (ANC) candidate and admits to working for
the ANC caucus during office hours, which effectively meant he was
moonlighting on ratepayers' money."
Zille said several contract employees "came and went as they
pleased" and had little, if any, work to do.
"Some have not even bothered to report for duty."
Although former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and Mgoqi purged the
city of 100 top officials at a cost of R80m to the
ratepayer, the overall salary bill went up by R249m while
Mfeketo was in office, Zille said.
She added that this was a direct result of political "jobs for
pals".
"We have trimmed down this bureaucracy, for example by combining
the office of the mayor and deputy mayor and cutting the staff from
27 to 12 contract staff members who will work full-time, every
working day."
- SAPA