Suspended CFO ready to expose abuse of power

Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and city manager Jason Ngobeni are afraid that suspended chief financial officer Andile Dyakala will expose fraudulent and illegal transactions should he return to work. This is according to Dyakala in his complaint to the office of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela against what he referred to as abuse of State power being at the root of his suspension. “The city manager and executive mayor are abusing their powers in order to ensure that they protect their territory. They fear that when I report for duty I will expose all irregular transactions,” he wrote in the complaint letter, which the Pretoria News has seen. “I am still earning a monthly salary while on this illegal suspension. I feel like this is a complete fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the city under the leadership of Ramokgopa.”

Dyakala, who has been suspended with full pay for almost two years, poured his heart out in the letter about being unable to “earn” his salary since his June 2014 suspension. In the complaint, he asked Madonsela to investigate the abuse of power by the mayor and Ngobeni. Incidentally, Ramokgopa and Ngobeni are also on the radar of the public protector regarding the terminated electricity smart meters contract with Peu Capital Partners. Dyakala said the mayor and city manager were aware that he did not have financial resources to fight a “R30 billion institution” through the judicial system. “I will get litigation fatigue while they pursue their abusive and corrupt agenda,” he wrote. When the city suspended Dyakala from his job, it alleged that a forensic audit had implicated him in fraud relating to a printing tender it had. Dyakala has pleaded his innocence throughout the process.

Despite the employer being ordered by Labour Court Judge Annelie Basson to reinstate him with immediate effect in March last year, Dyakala has not been able to return to work. Soon after judgment was delivered, the city informed Dyakala’s attorneys that the chief financial officer should not report for duty. Dyakala said in the complaint that Ramokgopa and the city manager abused State power by disregarding the Labour Court ruling that he be reinstated. He had approached the court for a reprieve after he was suspended by the city in July 2014 and later fired after charges of tender irregularity were laid against him. In the letter Dyakala asked Madonsela to investigate the two Tshwane leaders for refusing to take him back to work following the court ruling. Instead of reinstating him, the duo opted to suspend him again, he claimed.

In the drawn-out legal battle, the city appealed the reinstatement ruling, but lost with costs. Dyakala claimed Ramokgopa and Ngobeni threatened to instruct the Tshwane Metro Police Department to remove him from the municipal offices if he ever set foot there. “For them to go against the Labour Court ruling is a demonstration of a form of abuse of State resources and powers.” To start with, he said the pair had no council resolution to restart the disciplinary hearing and subsequently suspend him again following the court order. Dyakala also cited what he termed an unlawful council resolution, which propelled him to accept their terms to keep him in his position or face termination of contract as the chief financial officer. “I deemed that stance not just unlawful but also as intimidation tactics, and I duly refused their proposal outright,” he stated. “The city then terminated my contract and issued a media statement saying that I had been fired.”

He said that when they suspended him, Ngobeni and Ramokgopa never tabled a report to the council. Nor did they do so when they announced his suspension and continuation of the disciplinary hearing. They disregarded a lawful regulation for dealing with the disciplinary processes of senior managers. This, Dyakala claimed, amounted to abuse of power. He joined the city in 2011. Umar Banda has been acting in his post since the suspension.