By Delisa Thwala
The Mbabane Council representative in the matter of Municipal Council of Mbabane Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gciniwe Fakudze has argued that the Minister of Housing and Urban Development Apollo Maphalala, acted beyond his authority.
The act of ultra vires was said to have been practised by the Minister when he appointed Fakudze over the other candidate.
Mangaliso Nkomondze for council said the Minister was taking overpowers of the council by appointing his candidate of choice.
“Him substituting Dlamini for Fakudze was an act of ultra vires. He then directed the council to act on the substitution which we call unlawful substitution and so was the directive to follow the substitution.”
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“The Council is not bound to follow his directive because it is unlawful. He now seeks to do things by evoking a section 47: 4,” he said in his submission.
The Attorney General (AG) made their submission submitting that the Minister was acting well within his jurisdiction.
The appointment of Fakudze comes after a protracted debacle between the city’s councillors and the minister having gone back and forth in the recruitment of the new CEO.
After the recruitment process was conducted by SNG Grant Thornton, a report was forwarded to the councillors and what surprised many was that the councillors decided to go for the person, who according to the assessment, scored the lowest points.
The candidate is said to have scored less than 50 per cent while Fakudze scored over 80 per cent, and she was on top of the candidate list.
The minister has had engagements with the councillors in a bid to forge a way forward in the recruitment of the new CEO, but the engagements were met with some hurdles as some councillors were alleged to be against the appointment of Fakudze as the new CEO.
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Notably, none of the councillors including Mayor Thulani Mkhonto were part of the unveiling of the new CEO.
When making his remarks during the unveiling of the new CEO, Minister Maphalala said Fakudze will be responsible for steering the council’s ship effective from August 19, 2024, and that this will be over five years.
He acknowledged the hurdles that they faced in the recruitment of the CEO but said it was all necessary for the ministry and the city council to get a proper candidate for the job.
