Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero was before Scopa where he also blamed Herman Mashaba for the state of the city.
Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has revealed the considerations taken into account when appointing MMCs in the city.
The mayor was challenged on the competence of his MMC, responding that they were selected for political nous rather than expertise.
Morero was answering questions following a presentation by city officials to the standing committee on public accounts on remedial action taken with regard to findings by the Auditor-General of South Africa.
‘A very sad indictment’
Committee member, ActionSA’s Alan Beesley, stated his belief that several appointments in Johannesburg’s financial leadership were “particularly weak”, with Morero disagreeing with the “political perceptions” expressed.
Morero explained that his MMC’s were “not necessarily experts in that particular field”, but were chosen for their political skill.
“Political parties appoint leadership on the basis of the ability politically to deal with the matters that affects the city.
“And their responsibility once they are appointed is for them to learn and to improve and gather information on what is required of the portfolio.
“If we want chartered accountants to be MMCs of Finance, it would mean we’ll have problems in the future.
“Secondly, they have a group of competent experts and professionals in that field to support them,” said Morero.
Beesley was taken aback by the stance, suggesting it was an inefficient way to administer such an important city.
“If you’ve got someone who has to learn on the job, whether a minister or MMC, it’s a very sad indictment on what you just said,” replied Beesley.
Morero blames Mashaba
Beesley noted that two members of Morero’s executive had been removed from city leadership by Herman Mashaba when the ActionSA leader was Johannesburg mayor.
Morero defended his MMCs, saying they had been cleared by internal disciplinary processes and courts “beyond a reasonable doubt” of any wrongdoing.
Morero claimed the city was still dealing with the actions of Mashaba, whom he blamed for pushing out competent employees through overzealous management.
The mayor explained that more than 100 employees were forced to defend themselves against alleged corruption claims, which were later proven false.
“The drop that you are seeing today, in terms of performance on revenue collection, was a result of employees throughout the value chain in the revenue department deciding not to do anything anymore because anything you touch, you are then accused of corruption by Mashaba.
“In fact, Mashaba created weak leadership throughout the city,” Morero asserted.