The City of Johannesburg Council has confirmed the guilty verdict handed down against Councillor Mally Moekena, the MMC for Public Safety, for violating the Code of Conduct through fraud and nepotism. She has been suspended for one month without pay. The Ethics Committee originally recommended dismissal from Council, but Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance, Lebogang Maile, decided that his comrade should get off with a lighter sentence.
The fact that the decisions of a municipal council can be overruled by another sphere of government points to a fundamental weakness in the laws that regulate local government.
Councillor Moekena was referred to the Ethics Committee in 2018 for employing her niece into a key position for which she was not qualified.
As a MMC, Councillor Moekena’s performance has been dismal. She has displayed a complete lack of interest in her portfolio, with JMPD and EMS failing to meet key targets such as by-law enforcement and clamping down on drunken and reckless driving. Probably her greatest failing has been the inability to buy new fire engines when there are currently only about four working fire engines to serve the residents of Johannesburg. Even with R200 million allocated for new vehicles, she wasn’t even able to start the procurement process.
We still believe that fraud and nepotism should be punished with full dismissal, and that Moekena should not be allowed to return to the position of MMC for Public Safety given her poor performance and lack of integrity. The Mayor needs to fire her and appoint a new MMC who will put the residents of Johannesburg first, and bring much needed stability to a vital portfolio.