Pretoria - “Sacked” City of Tshwane chief financial officer (CFO) Umar Banda has approached the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on an urgent basis to challenge a decision by the municipal manager, Johann Mettler, to terminate his contract before its expiry on December 31, 2022.
Mettler accused Banda of submitting, on behalf of the city, non-compliant annual financial statements for 2021/22 to the Auditor-General.
Banda’s transgression was included in the city’s answering affidavit, which said his “misrepresentation” of financial statements caused the city “a significant embarrassment”.
City spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “Mr Banda has referred a dispute to the High Court pertaining to an alleged unlawful or invalid termination of his contract of employment, which the City is opposing. The matter will be heard in the High Court, Gauteng Division, Pretoria … the city is thus not able to comment further on the matter as it is sub judice.”
He said Banda was employed by the City in terms of a fixed-term contract of employment, which terminates on December 31, 2022 by agreement between the parties.
“On December 2, 2022, the City decided that Mr Banda should be relieved of the obligation to render services to the City up until the end of his contract of employment. Mr Banda has been fully compensated up to the end of his fixed-term contract on December 31, 2022. Currently, there is no oral or written contract in which Mr Banda’s employment with the City will be renewed on January 1, 2023,” Bokaba said.
But, Banda expressed differing views in his founding affidavit, in which he accused Mettler of firing him without furnishing him with reasons.
He was hired on a five-year fixed-term contract in 2017 by the then-city manager Dr Moeketsi Mosola while the DA’s Solly Msimanga was still the mayor.
His contract expired in June this year, but the council resolved to extend it on two occasions.
Banda said: “My contract was extended as resolved on a month-to-month basis for no longer than three months from October 1, 2022 to December 31.”
According to him, Mettler made a submission to the council to extend his contract for a third time on a month-to-month basis for no longer than three months from January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2023.
“I received correspondence from the city manager dated December 1, 2022 in terms of which I was suspended, for allegations related to the submission of the first respondent’s annual financial statements to the Auditor-General,” he said.
He said the following day he received a letter of dismissal from Mettler, who had decided to withdraw the suspension letter.
According to him, his sacking was not as a result of any commission of misconduct on his part.
“There has been no finding against me of any misconduct. The first respondent admits that there is no finding of misconduct against me. Termination for any allegation of this nature can only be effected in terms of the Disciplinary Regulations. The purported termination is unlawful insofar as it is grounded in misconduct,” Banda said in court papers.
He said his employment was purportedly terminated with immediate effect whereas he was supposed to be given one month’s notice in terms of Section 38 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997. “This means my employment will terminate on January 1, 2023,” he said.
The Republican Conference of Tshwane, a political party in council, has slammed Mettler for usurping the powers of council, saying that the CFO is a Section 56 appointment and that only council may appoint, dismiss or discipline the CFO.
Party councillor Lex Middelberg said: “The dismissal was done on the sly, quietly, without notice to councillors or a public statement to the media.”
Pretoria News