Three Buffalo City Metro administration bosses are taking the council to court to prevent it from taking disciplinary action against them over the alleged irregular procurement of temporary housing units during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Six officials were identified by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) for their alleged involvement in gross financial misconduct relating to the provision of more than 330 temporary houses during the Covid-19 pandemic, at a cost of R21m.
The SIU report, compiled in 2022, was later sent to the metro’s financial misconduct disciplinary board for it to determine the appropriate action to be taken against the implicated officials.
A confidential report from the board recommending that disciplinary proceedings be instituted against the officials was tabled at a special council meeting in January.
The disciplinary board, chaired by Louis Vermaak, found that there was prima facie evidence that warranted the group being taken to task for alleged misconduct.
The officials include the metro’s human settlements head of department, Luyanda Mbula, supply chain management boss and former acting CFO Andile Xoseka and senior project manager Sandile Gqiba.
The other three officials were a low-cost housing inspector and two administrative assistants.
In his board report, Vermaak recommended that action be taken against Mbula for, among other things, allegedly unlawfully authorising invoices for payment to two service providers while the work for which payment was made, was not done.
The report, seen by the Dispatch, also recommended that Xoseka be disciplined for allegedly selectively providing nine of the 23 service providers who had put in bids with the specifications for structures to be tendered on before the request for quotation was issued.
Vermaak’s board also wants Xoseka to account for his alleged appointment of a junior staff member to the bid adjudication committee, “over which he had control and could have manipulated, while he was not authorised to do so”.
The report states that Gqiba should be disciplined for allegedly unlawfully authorising payment for housing units which were not completed or constructed at all.
Judicial review
After scrutinising the SIU report, Vermaak said in his report: “The disciplinary board is of the opinion that sufficient evidence exists to make out prima facie cases of misconduct against these employees.”
However, the disciplinary processes could be stalled as the three senior officials want the recommendations of the SIU, Vermaak’s board report, and a recent council resolution to institute disciplinary proceedings, to be subjected to a judicial review.
Xoseka refused to comment on Thursday, and referred the Dispatch to his legal representative, Ncedo Gilindoda.
Mbula said the matter was sub-judice, before referring queries to his legal team.
Gilindoda confirmed they had initiated a legal challenge to have the reports reviewed.
“Yes, there is an application that we have made in court, as my client is not satisfied by the contents and recommendations of BCM’s disciplinary board.
“We have since obtained a high court directive, on January 28, which required BCM to file an answering affidavit by February 3, something they had not yet done,” Gilindonda said.
He said he expected BCM to file its papers by Friday. It was not clear by the time of publication if it had done so.
Makhanda-based advocate Justin Powers, of Neville Borman & Botha, representing Mbula and Gqiba, confirmed they planned to institute a court challenge.
Powers wrote to BCM city manager Mxolisi Yawa on February 2, demanding that the metro halt its plans to subject his clients to a disciplinary process pending their application for the SIU and Vermaak’s reports to be reviewed by a court.
“We have instructions to institute proceedings for judicial review of the resolution of January 29 2026 of the council of BCM to institute disciplinary proceedings against our clients, as well as the recommendation of the disciplinary board to the council and the report of the SIU on which the aforesaid recommendation and resolution were based.
“Kindly confirm that you will hold any such disciplinary steps in abeyance pending the outcome of the judicial review.
“Should we not hear from you within five days from date hereof our clients will proceed with their application to the high court,” Powers told Yawa.
BCM spokesperson Bongani Fuzile did not respond to questions sent to him on Thursday.
Invoices worth R6.1m
Among the accusations Mbula faces, is that he allegedly signed off on four payment invoices to the value of R6.1m while work was not adequately done.
In late 2023, and without the council’s approval, the metro instituted civil proceedings against some of the officials and suppliers named in the SIU report in a bid to recover the wasted funds.
The case was halted after the council resolved that the matter should first be dealt with by the disciplinary board.
Procurement process allegedly irregular
The SIU had investigated allegations that the officials had colluded with service providers in tenders advertised under the national state of disaster.
According to the SIU, Mbula, on April 6 2020, motivated for the procurement of 335 temporary housing units to be treated as an emergency. The authority was granted but the SIU later discovered that the procurement process followed was allegedly irregular.
A decision was taken by the city that three service providers should be contracted from the 23 that had submitted their bids.
The first contract was for the construction of 100 units valued at R6.3m, the second tender was for 115 structures valued at R7.3m, and the third was for 120 units valued at R7.7m.
In respect of the first tender, the SIU established that the service provider had built 97 of the 100 units.
The service provider appointed to build the 115 units allegedly did not deliver any.
In respect of the third tender for the construction of 120 units, the SIU found the contractor delivered only 47 structures.
Despite this, some payments were made by the city.
The SIU also found duplicate payments amounting to R1.2m were allegedly made to the service provider appointed to build the 100 housing units.
It recommended the officials be subjected to an internal disciplinary process for alleged financial misconduct.
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