Publications
Partners
Backlash continues to pour in as opposition parties call on Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga to dismiss former body-builder turned executive director in the mayor’s office Stefan de Villiers.
EFF’s Gauteng acting chairperson Mandisa Mashego said Msimanga was abusing his position as Tshwane mayor: “He is treating the city like his little business which he used to please white people.
“Solly Msimanga is clearly not fit and proper for his office. He seems to be obsessed with empowering the white people of the Democratic Alliance (DA). He perpetuates this further and further with no regard for black graduates who are unemployed,” said Mashego.
According to Mashego, Msimanga should be focusing on ensuring quality service across black townships and expanding services to new areas, the way mayor Herman Mashaba is trying to do in Johannesburg.
“Msimanga is not doing anything for the people of Tshwane. Instead he is abusing taxpayers’ money and arrogantly justified his actions,” said Mashego.
Msimanga defended the appointment of De Villiers as an executive director in his office, saying: “Stefan de Villiers is a political appointment. All government leaders appoint and need supporting staff who can be trusted to land our policies in government, communicate our message and handle sensitive information.”
“Stefan is by far the most qualified candidate for this. It is imperative that I have a trusted individual heading up my diary to ensure all communities have equal and adequate access to the mayor,” he said.
This is the second time that such an irregular appointment has been exposed in Msimanga’s office. The exposal of De Villiers’ lack of qualifications follows the resignation of Marietha Aucamp after being also allegedly appointed without meeting the basic requirements.
ANC Tshwane caucus spokesperson Lesego Makhubela, called for member of the mayoral committee Cilliers Brinks and Msimanga to immediately resign following this latest scandal.
“The ANC Tshwane Caucus makes renewed calls for Msimanga and Brink to immediately resign or they will be pushed out. Overwhelming evidence continues to pour in which proves that they are at the heart of employing at the nerve centre and at the heart of the city’s administration incompetent, unqualified, inexperienced and unskilled white DA members, breaking the law and flouting recruitment policies of the city,” said Makhubela.
The ANC representative also claimed that Msimanga and Brink also participated in the head hunting of Aucamp to act as chief of staff for three months before she “was fully employed after the flouting of processes which saw Msimanga breaking his oath of office in defence of white supremacy, that seeks to suggest that if you are white you don’t need qualifications to be appointed in a managerial position”.
