uMngeni mayor & municipality sued for R10 million in damages

uMngeni mayor Christopher Pappas and his municipality have been slapped with a R10 million demand for defamation and reputational damage.

If he does not meet this demand, he and the municipality will be dragged before the courts for the matter to be heard.

This came after Pappas publicly claimed that Mhlanga Incorporated, a law firm, which was hired as an independent investigator to provide advice to council on corruption allegations that were levelled against former municipal manager, Thembeka Cibane, had triple-charged the municipality for its services.

The Durban-based law firm is run by lawyer Sthembelo Ralph Mhlanga.

Pappas reportedly said the municipality was saddled with a huge legal bill in the last financial year (2021/22) from Mhlanga Incorporated.

He said a preliminary investigation revealed that Mhlanga Incorporated had seriously overcharged the municipality. He said the firm had taken advantage of a time-bound and serious matter that was faced by the municipality at the time.

In a document addressed to the municipality, the company stated that on August 31, 2021, it was appointed by former mayor Sizwe Sokhela as an independent investigator to investigate allegations of misconduct against the then municipal manager Thembeka Cibane.

The document reads:

As the independent investigator, Mhlanga of Mhlanga Inc was required to deliver his investigative report with recommendations to the mayor within 30 days of his appointment. Mhlanga delivered his report on September 29, 2021, to the full council. The findings of serious misconduct and recommendations that Cibane be charged accordingly were adopted by council. Following the delivery of the Mhlanga report, Mr Mhlanga delivered an invoice and after negotiations with the municipality a fee of R1 360 450 (including VAT) was agreed upon and paid.
It said the figure was constituted by professional and reasonable hourly rates as follows: R3 500 for Mhlanga, R2 000 for an associate and R1 500 for a candidate attorney.

Charges were drafted and served on Ms Cibane and the hearing commenced. Suffice to mention that Mr Mhlanga as an independent investigator was the chief witness in the disciplinary enquiry against a fee. Professional fees for all work done, premised on agreed fee structures, were ultimately paid.
Mhlanga Inc contends that despite the above, on or about September 23, 2022, the mayor of uMngeni Municipality councillor Christopher Pappas issued and published a media statement as follows, “The preliminary investigation has revealed that Mhlanga Inc has seriously overcharged the municipality and has taken advantage of a time-bound and serious matter that was faced by the municipality at the time.

“Introductory evidence indicates that uMngeni Municipality could have been overbilled by up to three times as much as the industry accepted rates on a number of line items,” reads the document.

The law firm said the media statement was published without any conclusive investigative report/process which properly and objectively considered the norms applied in the attorney’s profession in respect of, and an independent assessment of the reasonableness of the fees charged.

“The allegation conveyed that Mhlanga Inc is unethical, unprofessional, dishonest, and lacks integrity. The statement also purports the firm as engaging in irregular and unlawful tactics in its recovery of fees for professional services rendered.

The municipality’s conduct is disparaging, damaging to and defamatory of the good name and reputation of the law firm. In light and as a result of your conduct, Mhlanga Inc has suffered reputational damage and demand payment of the amount of R10 million.

Sihle Hlongwane, an attorney at the firm confirmed that they have instructed their lawyers to be ready with summonses in case Pappas fails to meet their demand.

“We are suing the mayor in his personal capacity and the municipality as the employer. The mayor had used his personal Twitter account and other platforms to damage the firm’s reputation. If they are not meeting our demand then the courts will have to adjudicate,” said Hlongwane on Tuesday.

Mayor Pappas said:

uMngeni Municipality will consider the accusations made by the company concerned. We will respond accordingly.
ANC councillor and uMngeni exco member Thulani Mthalane said it was disturbing that the matter regarding the law firm and the work it did for the municipality is confidential and is handled as such at the in-committee level.

“The matter of the lawyer’s fees is handled internally and is confidential. It is worrying that the mayor would go public with confidential council matters. This whole transaction is still looked into by exco so it was careless of him to have made those utterances as they have come back to bite the municipality.

“He should not be taking exco confidential matters and make them public. It is for this reason that we say he should not be using taxpayers’ money to challenge this, if he will challenge it.

“He must use his own fees to handle this situation,” said Mthalane.

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