In his judgment last year, Judge Piet Bezuidenhout said Lindiwe Sisulu’s actions were “procedurally unfair” and “not in terms of the constitution”.
The firing of the Umgeni Water Amanzi board in 2020 by then water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu has cost taxpayers more than R4.3-million in a settlement.
This comes after the board’s members — replaced with an interim structure in August 2020 — successfully challenged their dismissal and were reinstated by a high court order.
Sisulu collapsed the boards of a number of entities in the human settlements, water and sanitation sector during her tenure as minister and replaced them with interim or permanent boards.
She was moved to tourism in the 2019 cabinet reshuffle and the two portfolios were split into stand-alone ministries.
Sisulu’s successor, Senzo Mchunu, decided not to challenge the court order after a cabinet decision was taken to reinstate the board members.
Mchunu subsequently implemented an agreement in terms of which they were paid for the 14 months for which they were unable to serve because of the dissolution.
In terms of the agreement, the chairperson of the board, Ziphozethu Mathenjwa, and committee chairpersons were paid R600 000 each while ordinary members received a settlement of R400 000 each. In total, their windfall came to R4.33-million.
A member of the board, who asked not to be named, confirmed that they had received the payouts instead of having their term of office extended by 14 months.
Umgeni Water referred the Mail & Guardian to the department of water and sanitation, under which it falls, for comment.
Kamogelo Mogotsi, spokesperson for Mchunu, said the payout was made from the water board’s funds “in line with the current standing protocol”.
“The payment to the current board is in accordance with the court order and as per the explicit undertaking made by the department and [Sisulu] during court arguments. The payment is therefore as a result of the court injunction,” Mogotsi said, adding that the board members were paid in line with the standard protocols for the remuneration of board members.
She said that de facto payment of two boards for the 14-month period had not been classified as wasteful or irregular expenditure because “the external audit process will conclude on the correct classification of this”.
At this point, nobody had been held accountable for the double expenditure.
Once the auditor general had concluded its audit in September and issued an opinion, then “we will be in a position to respond on the route to follow”.
“The erstwhile minister had defended her decision and the judicial injunction gives guidance on how to deal with board member appointments or dismissals in the future. All role players in that decision making process ought to take full responsibility for their respective roles in the decision making process, the minister is ultimately accountable thereof,’’ Mokgotsi said.
She said the auditor general’s audit opinion would determine whether the department would attempt to recover the money from any person.
In his judgment last year, Judge Piet Bezuidenhout said Sisulu’s actions were “procedurally unfair” and “not in terms of the constitution”.
Bezuidenhout said there was no provision in the Water Services Act for Sisulu to appoint an interim board and that its appointment was not approved by the cabinet, rendering it’s appointment unlawful.
The termination of board members’ appointments was “unreasonable and irrational”, he said, adding that Sisulu had no “absolute right without any recourse” to appoint or remove boards at whim.
Umgeni Water has been the subject of a Special Investigative Unit (SIU) proclamation into corruption amounting to R1-billion, while the entity has appointed four of its own forensic investigations into allegations of massive corruption under former chief executive officer Thami Hlongwa.
Hlongwa resigned before the forensic audit reports could be acted upon, as did his successor, Nomalungelo Mkhize, who served as chief financial officer before being appointed acting chief executive.
Hlongwa is in hiding after the murder last year of tenderpreneur Sibonelo Shinga, who had been accused by whistleblowers of being involved in tender corruption along with Hlongwa.
The former engineering head at Umgeni, Sandile Dube, is now acting as chief executive.
Sisulu’s spokesperson, Steve Motale, said that because she was no longer the minister of water and sanitation, she would not comment on the matter.
“She is currently not the minister of water. The current [minister] is the one who should respond to this question. Minister Sisulu will answer anything related to her current portfolio,” Motale said.
“Minister Sisulu fought corruption in the water sector to the best of her ability,” Motale said. “Whether there was sabotage of all her investigation reports in that space, and deliberate obstruction on the supposed arrests, history will be the judge.”
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