Dr Beyers Naudé municipality still employs sex offender

The Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality in the Eastern Cape is still employing a sexual offender more than a decade after he was found guilty of gross misconduct in a disciplinary hearing.

The employee, a manager the municipality inherited after the erstwhile Ikwezi municipality was incorporated into the Dr Beyers Naudé municipality, sexually assaulted a co-worker. 

The matter escalated into a R9-million claim to be paid by both the government and the employee, but that amount was knocked down to R4-million in the Eastern Cape high court after the municipality filed an appeal in 2016.

The high court ruled in April that the Dr Beyers Naudé municipality, based in Graaff-Reinet, erstwhile Ikwezi local municipality, and its employee, Xola Vincent Jack, are jointly and severally liable to pay a former employee R3.9-million. 

The woman resigned from the municipality effective November 2010, after the assault, which happened on 16 November 2009. 

She was 23 when she began working as a clerk at the Ikwezi municipality in Jansenville, about 90km from Graaff-Reinet. Jack, her manager, grabbed her and tried to push his tongue into her mouth. The woman resisted by clenching her teeth. 

A year and a half later the Ikwezi municipality launched a disciplinary hearing. The presiding officer found that a suitable sanction for Jack would be a two-week suspension without pay. Jack resumed his management role “with a clean slate”.

The court described this as “mind boggling” after it heard that the only reason the presiding officer did not give Jack a final written warning was that he had already received a final warning for theft for allegedly stealing a water tank from the municipality. 

Jack, who remains at the Jansenville office, did not respond to numerous requests for comment. 

He had denied the allegations in court papers but had not placed on record a defence — except to question the day of the assault. 

No ‘quick fix’

Samantha Graham-Maré, the Democratic Alliance MP responsible for public works and infrastructure, has demanded that Jack be dismissed. 

She worked alongside Jack when she was a councillor in the former Camdeboo municipality between 2011 and 2016. The Camdeboo, Ikwezi and Baviaans local municipalities were amalgamated to form the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality in 2016. 

“How is it that we harbour sexual predators in our municipality and he is in a position of trust, the corporate services manager. You know, he deals with human resource issues,” Graham-Maré said. 

After taking up the matter with the Dr Beyers Naudé municipal mayor, Deon de Vos, “the response I got from the mayor was ‘it’ll be easier to get the money out of him if he’s still employed by us than it will be if he’s not’.”

Although the municipality’s instructing attorney, Casper Lötter, did not answer the Mail & Guardian’s questions he said the matter was more intricate than simply dismissing Jack years after he was found guilty of gross misconduct.

He said the Dr Beyers Naudé municipality inherited employers from the Ikwezi municipality when it was amalgamated. Should the municipality dismiss him now, it might turn into a civil court matter, Lötter said. He argues the municipality cannot dismiss an employer “based on how they feel now” years after he was found guilty of gross misconduct. 

But Graham-Maré is convinced the municipality can put a hold on Jack’s pension and “claim the money from his pension if you need to, but I can’t understand why we must keep him in this position”.

For Lötter, there is no “quick fix” to the matter. 

Nolte Smit Attorneys, the instructing attorney of the former employee, confirmed that the defendants have made arrangements for payment to the woman and “should payment not be forthcoming, we will proceed with a warrant of execution against the defendants as per the rules of court”.

Other inherited problems 

The Dr Beyers Naudé municipality inherited numerous other problems, some of which were highlighted in the Kabuso Forensic Report. The investigation was commissioned in 2009 by Sicelo Gqobana, then an Eastern Cape MEC. Matters relating to irregular expenditure and maladministration were investigated. 

Among other problems, the report found that the Dr Beyers Naudé municipality’s chief financial officer — who was also inherited from Ikwezi — was unqualified for her position. 

A new investigation relating to the chief financial officer and unpaid pension funds since 2019 has been instituted, according to a Graaff-Reinet Advertiser reported in early 2020. Outstanding payments should have been made by the end of March this year. It is alleged the full amount has not yet been paid. 

Xolile Nqatha, the MEC of cooperative governance and traditional affairs in the Eastern Cape, said the Dr Beyers Naudé municipality is one of 27 municipalities in the province that is being investigated for maladministration, fraud and corruption. 

Of these 27, the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality is also one of 11 that are not providing information regarding the investigations. 

Nqatha briefed the parliamentary standing committee on public accounts at the end of last year on its inquiry into consequence management in municipalities in the province. 

The Beyers Naudé local municipality had not responded to queries two weeks after questions were put to it. 

From harbouring sexual offenders, settling a near R4-million claim, to an investigation into maladministration, fraud and corruption; this is the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality in Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape.

A government employee at the municipality remains in his management role more than a decade after he was found guilty of gross misconduct for sexually assaulting a co-worker. 

The matter escalated into a near R9-million claim to be paid by both the government and the employee, but that amount was knocked down to R4-million in the high court. 

After the municipality filed an appeal in 2016, the Eastern Cape high court ruled last month that the municipality, based in Graaff-Reinet and the erstwhile Ikwezi Local Municipality, and its employee, Xola Vincent Jack, are jointly and severally liable to pay a former employee R3.9-million. She was forced to resign after being sexually assaulted by Jack, her superior in the workplace, in 2009. 

The 35-year-old woman was 23 years old when she began working as a clerk at the Ikwezi local municipality in Jansenville, about 90km from Graaff-Reinet. Jack at the time was her direct manager and sexually assaulted her on 16 November 2009. He grabbed her and tried to push his tongue into her mouth. The woman resisted by clenching her teeth. 

It was only a year and a half after the assault that the municipality launched a disciplinary hearing. The presiding officer found that a suitable sanction for Jack would be a suspension for a two week period, without pay. 

After two weeks Jack resumed his management role “with a clean slate”.

This the court described as “mind boggling” after the court heard that the only reason the presiding officer did not give Jack a final written warning was that he had already received a final warning for theft after he allegedly stole a water tank from the municipality. 

The woman resigned from the municipality effective November 2010. However, to this day Jack remains in his management role at the municipality’s Jansenville office. Jack did not respond to numerous calls for comment. 

However in court papers Jack denied the allegations though he did not place on record a defence except to question the day of the assault.   

No ‘quick fix’

Samantha Graham-Maré, Democratic Alliance MP of Public Works and Infrastructure, has demanded that Jack be dismissed. Graham-Maré worked alongside Jack when she was a councillor in the former Camdeboo municipality between 2011 and 2016. The Camdeboo, Ikwezi and Baviaans local municipalities were amalgamated to form the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality in 2016. 

“How is it that we harbour sexual predators in our municipality and he is in a position of trust, the corporate services manager, you know he deals with human resource issues,” exclaims Graham-Maré during an interview with the Mail & Guardian. 

She adds after prompting the issue with the municipality’s mayor, Deon de Vos “the response I got from the mayor was ‘it’ll be easier to get the money out of him if he’s still employed by us than it will be if he’s not.”

Though the municipality’s instructing attorney Casper Lötter did not answer the M&G’s questions he said the matter was more intricate than simply dismissing the employee years after he was found guilty of gross misconduct.

He explained that the municipality inherited employers from the Ikwezi municipality when it was amalgamated in 2016. Should the municipality have decided back in 2016 to dismiss Jack or to dismiss him now, it might turn into a civil court matter. Lötter argues the municipality cannot dismiss an employer “based on how they feel now” years after he was found guilty of gross misconduct. 

However, Graham-Maré is convinced that the municipality can put a hold on Jack’s pension and “claim the money from his pension if you need to, but I can’t understand why we must keep him in this position.”

But for Lötter, there is no “quick fix” to the matter. 

Nolte Smit Attorneys, the instructing attorney of the former employee, confirmed to the M&G that the defendants have made arrangements for payment and “should payment not be forthcoming, we will proceed with a warrant of execution against the defendants as per the rules of court.”

Critical state 

When the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality was amalgamated in 2016 it inherited numerous issues with some highlighted in a damning investigation known as the Kabuso Report. The investigation was commissioned in 2009 by then Eastern Cape local government MEC Sicelo Gqobana. Matters relating to irregular expenditure and maladministration was investigated. The investigation also looked into whether the qualifications of officials were valid, authentic and relevant to the positions they held.

Amongst other issues the report found that the municipality’s chief financial officer at the municipality — who was also inherited from Ikwezi — was unqualified for her position. 

According to the Graaff-Reinet Advertiser reported in early 2020 a new probe relating to the current CFO and unpaid pension funds since 2019 has been instituted. Outstanding payments should have been made by the end of March this year. However, it is alleged the full amount has not yet been paid. The matter is still subject to investigation.

According to Xolile Nqatha MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality is one of 27 municipalities in the province that is being investigated for maladministration, fraud and corruption.

Of these 27, the Dr Beyers Naudé local municipality is also one of 11 that are not providing information regarding the investigations. Nqatha briefed the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) at the end of last year on Scopa’s inquiry into consequence management in municipalities in the province. 

Over a two-week period, the Beyers Naudé local municipality did not respond to any of the M&G’s inquiries.

[/membership]