Thabile Mbili is said to be the daughter of an ANC activist and former municipal manager at the Ray Nkonyeni local municipality on the province’s south coast who is now the head of the provincial department of human settlements.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and other opposition parties in eThekwini are demanding an immediate investigation into how a municipal official was transferred from a rural municipality to a senior job in the metro without proper procedure being followed.
Earlier this month, a whistleblower told the Mail & Guardian how Thabile Mbili was allegedly transferred from the uMzumbe local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and parachuted to the post in eThekwini, overlooking shortlisted internal candidates. The job comes with an annual salary of R360 000 and municipal perks.
The DA will formally request an investigation by the city integrity and investigation department to ascertain how this transfer happened, the party’s caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa said.
“We don’t believe the transfer was necessary because eThekwini municipality has enough underutilised internal capacity and there is no demonstrable evidence that this individual possesses any rare skill,” Mthethwa added.
ActionSA also slammed the appointment, saying the eThekwini city manager should be held to account.
“We are deeply concerned by these allegations, which highlight a persistent problem in many ANC-run municipalities where family members, cadres and friends of comrades are deployed into municipal positions, while sidelining candidates who rightfully deserve the job,” ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Sanelisiwe Zuma said.
Zuma said such incidents not only undermined transparency and fairness but also led to the appointment of poorly qualified individuals, resulting in weak governance and poor service delivery.
“If these allegations are true, they show yet another example of the abuse of power and cadre deployment that continues to cripple municipalities and government institutions,” she told the M&G.
“We will be writing to the city integrity and investigations unit to request an urgent investigation into this matter, as we cannot allow such blatant disregard for proper processes and good governance to continue.”
Mbili applied for a transfer from uMzumbe municipality in September 2022, in a letter a copy of which has been seen by the M&G. In her application, Mbili did not mention her previous position or functions that made her suitable for the intended job transfer but stated that “now I would like to work for a metro to understand my job on a bigger scale”.
Inaccuracies also emerged in the documents that Mbili purportedly submitted for the job. In her CV, she claimed she was assigned as a project financial controller in uMzumbe but in another document, attached in her application, she said she had been working as a principal clerk.
Mbili’s transfer was given the green light by eThekwini city manager Musa Mbhele, head of human capital Sihle Mkhize and head of legal services Malusi Mhlongo.
But, the South African Municipal Workers Union said even if the transfer passed all the requirements it should have not been approved by the city manager or legal services. The union said the appointment did not follow municipal placement policy.
Mbili is said to be the daughter of an ANC activist and former municipal manager at the Ray Nkonyeni local municipality on the province’s south coast who is now the head of the provincial department of human settlements.
Asked for comment on the matter earlier this month, eThekwini metro did not directly answer questions from the M&G, saying only: “The municipality follows a fair and transparent recruitment process. In accordance with our employment policy, we ensure that eThekwini’s workforce is employed based on merit in order to provide the public with the best service possible. Importantly, the city does not discuss recruitment and selection processes with the media.”
Mbili also declined to comment, referring questions to the municipality’s communications unit.