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MHLONGO’S CONTRACT RENEWED FOR 5 YEARS

02/08/2018 01:38:00 BY SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO

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MBABANE – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Municipal Council of Mbabane Gideon Mhlongo has bounced back at work, for a term of five years.

This was confirmed by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Phiwayinkhosi Mabuza.

According to Mabuza, the CEO will be in office for five years. The minister said he renewed the contract on the basis that he had wrote to councillors to negotiate with Mhlongo on the issue of the contract.

He said he had set a deadline on July 21, 2018 and stated that if they did not meet it or failed to give a correspondence that they were making an attempt to address the matter, he would then renew the contract.

Mabuza said he renewed the contract using the Urban Government Act, Section 47(4).
“It is on the same basis that Mhlongo’s contract was drawn when he was hired for the previous five-years,” he said.
The minister said he had done what he had promised to do and nothing else. Tuesday was supposed to be the last day for Mhlongo, whose contract had come to an end on July 31, 2018.

However, his car was found at the Municipal Council of Mbabane parking lot yesterday, and was proof enough that he was in office.
Councillors met yesterday to deliberate on the letter which was written by the minister, renewing Mhlongo’s contract. Information gathered was that they were yet to seek legal opinion on the matter.

Ex-Mayor Sikhatsi Dlamini said he has not yet confirmed whether the contract was renewed.
Dlamini alleged that if the minister has renewed the contract, it was unlawful as he had no powers to do so.
“Mabuza is not involved in any way in the renewal of the CEO’s contract, but his involvement only comes in when council hires,” he said.

He further said the constitution was clear that Mabuza was no longer minister and even during his time as substantive minister, he had no power to direct council to hire a CEO.

Councillors had written to the minister telling him that they would not be able to meet the deadline on his directive to have them engage Mhlongo on a three-year contract.

The minister had earlier indicated that failure by the councillors would lead to him exercising his powers to grant Mhlongo a five-year contract with the municipal council.

This was after a May 25, 2018 resolution by the councillors not to renew the CEO’s contract, citing that he was too expensive for the city to maintain. They also added his icy relationship with both the ratepayers and councillors as another factor for not renewing the contract.