The Emalahleni Local Municipality has placed its chief financial officer, Busisiwe Lubelwana, on precautionary suspension following a council decision on Monday.
According to a letter sent to Lubelwana by acting municipal manager Thozama Madotyeni, the suspension was to allow for an independent investigation into allegations against her including “the unilateral changes that you made to the investment and banking accounts of the municipality”.
Lubelwana was also suspected to have meddled with a VAT recovery tender.
“It is, among other things, suspected that these tenders were tailormade for the parties who were awarded except that the VAT recovery tender was reviewed and set aside by the high court.”
The value of the tender in question could not be established by the time of publication.
Madotyeni informed Lubelwana that the council had met on Monday to consider her representations and that having considered the allegations against her, it had resolved to “suspend you from work”.
“The council further resolved to appoint an independent body or person to investigate the allegations against you and other act/s of misconduct that may be established against you.
“Some of these have already been communicated to you in the letter that invited you to make representations.
“The council determined that the investigation should be commenced forthwith and should be finalised within a period of three months.”
There are no documents, all they say is that she is being suspended.
— DA councillor Thembalakhe Ngesi
During this period, Lubelwana was prohibited from interfering with witnesses and would be required to avail herself to the municipality upon request.
But she was banned from entering municipal offices unless prior consent was obtained from the acting municipal manager.
Other allegations against her included the payment of a resource mobilisation service provider which could result in the municipality incurring irregular expenditure and failure to disclose disciplinary proceedings against her for financial misconduct with a previous employer.
Lubelwana declined to comment on the matter on Tuesday.
Emalahleni spokesperson Luthando Nqumkana said Lubelwana had been appointed as the CFO in December 2024.
The municipality’s revenue and expenditure manager Lwandile Juwele has been appointed acting CFO following Lubelwana’s suspension.
“We cannot comment further about the details of this issue as it is still under investigation,” Nqumkana said.
“We request the media and the public to allow the process to unfold to its finality and immediately after that all details will be released accordingly.”
He said the municipality’s attorneys would be tasked with appointing forensic investigators who would deal with the matter and report to council upon finalisation.
But both DA councillor Thembalakhe Ngesi and his UDM counterpart, Sakhisizwe Kuphiso, said the matter relating to Lubelwana’s precautionary suspension was shrouded in a lot of secrecy.
They said the council had not made a conclusive report on the allegations against her.
“There are no documents, all they say is that she is being suspended,” Ngesi said.
“It looks like faction fights within the ANC that is running the municipality.
“Unfortunately, these fights have compromised service delivery as many projects remain incomplete.”
Daily Dispatch
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