Axed Mbombela CFO's fight to get her job back prolonged

Municipality and department appeal court ruling to reinstate Sibanyoni

- By Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

MEC Speedy Mashilo.

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A qualified financial accounting professional, Ntombifuthi Sibanyoni, has found her career in jeopardy - all thanks to two of Mpumalanga’s most influential politicians, both serving in the ANC’s top 5 structure within the provincial executive.

From a romantic fallout with one of the politicians to suspension, dismissal and a carousel of court appearances that reached as far as the Constitutional Court, Sibanyoni has spent more than three years fighting to keep her post.

Her ordeal exposes how political influence can warp administrative processes in the City of Mbombela Local Municipality, which is Mpumalanga’s largest, where even a high court victory seemingly offers no guarantee of job security.

Sibanyoni secured a major win last month when Mbombela High Court Acting Judge Maboku Mangena ruled that her dismissal as chief financial officer (CFO) was unlawful and that the municipality, aided by the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA), had acted outside the law.

Yet before the ink on the judgment could dry, the municipality and the department appealed, pulling her back into another round of litigation.