TUESDAY, 10.00AM
AXED housing director-general Billy Cobbett has been appointed to head Cape Town’s sonn-to-be-formed housing department. Cobbett’s position as director general expired at midnight on Tuesday and it is believed he could take up his new post in days.
Confirming that he had accepted the post, one of a number of job offers he had received, Cobbett said: “It will be a real challenge getting out of the ivory tower and into the reality of local government.”
The story of Cobbett’s firing was first broken in the Mail & Guardian (see link below). On the eve of publication of the story, Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo called press conference at which she announced Cobbett had handed in his resignation, which Cobbett subsequently denied. Cobbett maintained his contract was terminated prematurely at the behest of the minister and demanded appropriate recompense. It is believed he was paid out the remainder of his contract period in a deal amounting to hundreds of thousands of rands.
Cobbett faces a particular challenge in his new post, as the Cape Town metropolitan area has lagged behind other urban centres in housing delivery. Cobbett will be required to speed up delivery and get to grips with the sprawling Cape Flats shantytowns of Khayelitsha and Crossroads.