REFILWE MEKOA
The Free State Department of Cooperative Governance, Human settlements and Traditional Affairs (COHGTA) says it is trying its best to see the 33 dismissed Moqhaka Municipality employees in Kroonstad reinstated.
According to Cohgta’s head of department Victor Duma, the municipality is the only institution that will make the final decision regarding the matter. He said a task team couldn’t follow-up investigations on new matters that surfaced during the first investigation as most of those accusations were raised by the suspended employees.
“As Cogta we don’t have much control over instructing municipalities on what or not supposed to do. Our role is to simply advise them and as soon as we’ve got through to them, we will indicate what the situation is. I will be going there next week just to establish the facts and then I will advise what the next step should be,” he said.
Duma confirmed that disciplinary action hasn’t been taken against Moqhaka Municipality Manager Simon Mqwathi after the task team found that he was guilty of appointing consulting companies without following appropriate procedures.
A court order was submitted two months ago warning disgruntled employees that legal action would be taken if they illegally protested or didn’t go back to work. Workers started protesting earlier this year over the alleged misuse of municipal finances.
