Cape Town - Fired City of Cape Town executive director for Urban Waste Management, Luzuko Mdunyelwa has vowed to fight his dismissal amid an investigation into the collapse of the waste collection services in townships.
Speaking to the Cape Argus this week Mdunyelwa denied his new pilot project cost the City millions, saying the department’s budget caused a stink prior to his appointment.
Mdunyelwa was dismissed months after a shocking report, leaked to the Cape Argus, revealed that an independent investigator blamed him and mayco member Grant Twigg for the collapse in the service.
According to the internal report given to councillors at a council meeting in December, the formation of a new “in-house” model was undertaken with no delegated authority, resulting in high court action against the municipality and a staggering budget of more than R500 million in a cost comparison.
According to the report, the Urban
Waste Management Department opted to terminate external service providers from July 1 last year.
Mdunyelwa says he was alerted about his dismissal after a recent council meeting but explains the pilot project was never instituted. He says on his appointment in September 2022 he became concerned about the millions being spent on cleaning.
“The pilot project was never instituted, so no R500m was ever spent. What I found was that, with the millions being spent on cleansing, we should have been the cleanest city,” said Mdunyelwa.
He says the department’s budget was a mess and the pilot project was a data collection project through the Expanded Public Works Programme to collect data on how resources could be better used.
This project he says was presented to Twigg by officials.
He denied cancelling contracts with external service providers, saying he became aware on June 5, 2023 of the cancellations and when inquiring with the City’s legal department he was told it was done and could not be reversed.
Mdunyelwa further says he was left disappointed by the City’s decision and would now embark on a “multipronged approach” to fight his dismissal.
Asked to comment on the reasons for his dismissal, the City stated: “The scope of the report served before council on December 7 did not include an investigation into the merits of misconduct of any official, and the report makes no findings in this regard.
“The report’s recommendations on recourse have been implemented in full as part of the disciplinary hearing and related outcome. It must be noted that the operational responsibility for implementation of waste services is vested in the role of executive director (ED) for the directorate.”
Shortly after Mdunyelwa’s dismissal, rumours swirled accusing the City of making him a scapegoat as the original report also blamed Twigg for the collapse.
Asked whether he was protecting Twigg, mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: “Action is not warranted against Alderman Twigg, who correctly raised concerns about the need for waste management reforms in informal settlements, particularly where private contracting is not delivering the desired result of cleaner communities.
“This is in line with Alderman Twigg’s oversight responsibility, which does not extend to operational implementation of waste services. And there is absolutely no allegation of any impropriety whatsoever. Any suggestion that there is is just politicking’.
Twigg said he would not respond to “political opportunists”.
“I’m not interested in responding to nameless/faceless political opportunists I can say that the ED Mdunyelwa had real intentions of cleaning up Cape Town, but unfortunately, the disciplinary process was of the view that he didn’t follow the correct processes.”
Asked whether he thought he was being used as a scapegoat, Mdunyelwa declined to comment but said: “In this whole fight in the City of Cape Town I will tell you that an official of my level will never get a project approved without the support of your mayco member or the City manager”.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus