Transport head suspended amid R50m probe

Under-fire  Ekurhuleni transport head Lusanda Madikizela has been suspended pending an investigation into irregular expenditure of R50 million by her department.

This came barely two days after she penned a scathing rebuttal to her boss, city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi, on why she should not

be suspended. In the letter, a

copy of which The Star has seen, Mashazi said Madikizela had failed to explain why she should not be placed on suspension.

“Your challenge to the city manager exercising authority can only be read as an attempt to question and impugn the council resolution,” Mashazi said

In her response, Madikizela accused the city manager of using a “fallacious report” and “baseless allegations” to force her to resign.

The council passed a resolution for the precautionary suspension of Madikizela as head of the department during a recent closed-door council meeting. She faces suspension over the spiralling costs of the construction of two taxi ranks.

Mashazi asked Madikizela to provide reasons why she should not be suspended over her role.

Addressing Madikizela’s allegations, she said the head’s submissions “ostensibly contain your possible responses to questions that may be put to you during the investigation that has been sanctioned”.

“The city’s letter was not intended to solicit such, as it

was not dealing with evidential matters which may be traversed during or through a disciplinary process, should such come about,” she said.

“The submissions made have concentrated on investigations that were not in terms of the regulations. The investigations that have been sanctioned by the council will be conducted by an independent investigator and not the functionaries that have been highlighted in the submissions

you made.”

She added that the integrity of the investigations was of “paramount importance”, especially given the serious allegations Madikizela had made.

Attempts to obtain comment from Madikizela were unsuccessful yesterday.

Ekurhuleni metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe was unable to provide further details.

@Sihle_MG