Umgeni Water Amanzi acting chief executive Nomalungelo Mkhize has resigned from the water provision entity with immediate effect. (LinkedIn)
Umgeni Water Amanzi acting chief executive Nomalungelo Mkhize has resigned from the water provision entity with immediate effect.
The shock move by Mkhize, who was formerly chief financial officer of Umgeni, which falls under the water and sanitation ministry, was announced by the entity’s board on Monday.
Umgeni spokesperson Shami Harichunder said Mkhize had resigned citing “personal reasons” on 8 October.
Harichunder said the board had accepted Mkhize’s resignation and had appointed operations executive Sandile Dube as acting chief executive until a full-time person was appointed.
Harichunder said Umgeni thanked Mkhize for her “loyal service”, both as acting chief executive and in her earlier role as chief financial officer.
Mkhize was appointed as acting chief executive in October last year after the resignation of Thami Hlongwa ahead of the release of a forensic investigation into allegations that he had been captured by companies owned by murdered IT tenderpreneur Sibonelo Shinga.
Hlongwa had served in the position for seven years and was being investigated over payments from Shinga’s companies, Raminet Technologies and MPS Strategic Solutions, including those for a birthday party in Cape Town.
The two companies have launched a court application to stop Umgeni from terminating contracts valued at R138-million. The contracts are among those being investigated at Umgeni by the Special Investigating Unit in terms of two separate proclamations issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Dube holds a master’s in engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and a diploma in civil engineering from the Durban University of Technology. Dube, an engineer with 20 years of experience, joined Umgeni in February and previously worked as chief engineer at the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency.
Bheki Mbambo, project leader at Umgeni’s infrastructure division, takes over Dube’s operations role in an acting capacity.
Mkhize was not immediately available for comment.