KwaDukuza Municipality hits back at ANCYL's corruption, nepotism claims

TENSIONS are mounting in KwaDukuza Municipality after the ANC Youth League in the General Gizenga Mpanza Region accused the local municipality of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement, claims the municipality has firmly rejected as “unfounded” and “intimidatory”.

- SIPHESIHLE BUTHELEZI

In a scathing statement issued late last month, the ANCYL stated it was “appalled, though not surprised” by what it described as ongoing “unethical, corrupt and unjust employment practices” within the municipality.

The League alleged that local youth were being excluded from job opportunities while friends and relatives of senior officials were placed in key positions without proper recruitment processes.

“For far too long, the municipality has hired individuals from outside the town, while qualified local youth remain unemployed and excluded,’ the statement read.

“Posts are not advertised, interviews are skipped, and individuals are placed through personal connections, often family and friends of those in management.”

The Youth League further alleged the existence of ghost employees, irregular payments to temporary workers, and misuse of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), claiming that individuals close to municipal management had benefited repeatedly from the programme at the expense of deserving local youth.

In one specific case, the ANCYL said a person in the Corporate Governance Business Unit had been on the municipal payroll “for more than five years without reporting for duty?”

Another employee in the Project Management Unit (PMU), it said, continued receiving payment “after the original employee had returned to work.”