New Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina. (David Harrison/M&G)
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina on Tuesday evening skipped a meeting where she was to report to MPs on the reinstatement of the chief executive of the Amatola Water Board after he was fired for refusing to answer to findings of corruption.
The minister sent the portfolio committee on water an apology saying she could not join the virtual meeting at 6pm, committee chairperson Leon Basson told MPs.
“I did not approve the minister’s apology. We wrote back to say we can accommodate the minister after 8pm and whether the minister would join us and she did not even revert back to us,” Basson said.
David Mahlobo, the deputy minister of water affairs, tried to reach Majodina and agreed with suggestions from MPs that the meeting be postponed rather than receive a report from the department on the matter because “certain decisions were executive decisions”.
He was referring to correspondence between Majodina and the board after it informed her of its decisions first to suspend and then to dismiss Siyabulela Koyo, less than a year into his five-year contract, after a forensic report recommended that he be charged with misconduct.
Forensic investigator Leon Nel further recommended that Koyo should answer to charges of contravening the East London water authority’s anti-fraud and anti-corruption policy by placing its assets and reputation at risk.
He told the board that he had found evidence that Koyo had attended secret meetings with colleagues implicated in wrongdoing and East London business person Sonwabile Antoni at the latter’s home. Water board employees admitted that tenders were discussed at the meetings.
The then interim chairperson of the Amatola board, Pamela Yako, sent questions to Koyo and a letter to Majodina, dated 24 July, informing her that the board had decided to place him on precautionary suspension.
In a letter dated 29 July, Koyo replied to Yako that he had taken legal advice and could not be forced to give self-incriminating evidence. Compelling him to do so would be a breach of his constitutional rights and unfair labour practice, he cautioned.
“I elect to exercise the privilege against self-incrimination and accordingly will not be responding to the questions posed.”
According to a second letter sent to the minister on August 30, the board met on 19 August and resolved to terminate Moyo’s contract.
The board had been advised by Kirchmanns to fire Koyo, rather than institute a disciplinary process, because the latter would be “an extremely long, laborious and costly exercise”.
Dismissal for repudiation of contract would be a quicker resolution and would not deprive him of his rights to challenge the decision either at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration or in the labour court.
But, if he took that route, and alleged unfair dismissal, the board could prove that he was given an opportunity to be heard.
Yako’s letter noted that only one board member, Ndumiso Tyibilika, expressed a dissenting view. He argued in favour of finalising the investigation with the intention of initiating disciplinary proceedings and then making a final determination based on the findings.
Nel was then asked to provide a final report. Once this was received, the board, with a majority of five to one, affirmed its decision of 19 August and Koyo was served with a termination letter.
Majodina reportedly wrote to the board to express her concern that Koyo had been dismissed without allowing a disciplinary process to run its course.
On 4 September , the Amatola board announced Tyibilika’s appointment as its new interim chairperson. Koyo was reinstated the next day.
A spokesperson for the water board this week confirmed that he remains in the post, and said she could not give the reasons for reversing the decision to end his contract.
The water authority has been conducting internal investigations into allegations of tender corruption for years.
The investigation by Nel began as one requested by Koyo to look into allegations that a colleague was taking bribes to manipulate procurement processes.
“The investigator did not suspect at the time that there would be anything untoward with Mr Koyo’s appointment,” the report said.
But, in the course of the investigation, a picture emerged of opposing camps in the water authority competing for influence in directing bid outcomes. Koyo notably refused to say how he obtained screenshots of text messages exchanged by colleagues in which they appeared to be colluding to rig tender processes by disclosing confidential information to contacts.
The colleague Koyo had pointed to served on the water board’s bid evaluation committee. During the investigation, he not only conceded to tender manipulation and secret meetings with Antoni but said Koyo had attended such meetings.
According to the forensic report, he also told Nel of an unofficial meeting with a senior politician in Cape Town on 28 August last year where those present were told to leave their cellphones elsewhere or put them on flight mode.
Koyo confirmed that he had attended that meeting and eventually indicated, somewhat coyly, that Mahlobo was the politician in question.
“When Mr Koyo was interviewed by the investigator on 15 July 2024, he also did not deny
attending the meeting in Cape Town.
“He was not willing to say who was present at this meeting but did later (after the meeting) show the investigator on his official cellphone the name of the DM, David Mahlobo, and indicated to the investigator after asking him if he could keep a secret, ‘as investigations are confidential’, that the DM was there.”
The report noted that Koyo deleted his call history and messages after he was asked to hand over all his electronic devices to Nel.
“Notwithstanding, a keyword search for the deputy minister (DM) of water and sanitation,
David Mahlobo, showed remnants of communications and text messages between the DM
and Mr Koyo.”
The report includes evidence that Koyo had paid for his own flight and hotel accommodation in Cape Town and remarks that this suggests it was not a trip approved by his employer.
Koyo joined the water board in 2021 as executive manager for planning. He was promoted to chief executive in December last year.