Tshwane seeks legal advice over SALGBC decision to reinstate 5 officials suspended for misconduct

JOHANNESBURG - The Tshwane municipality is pursuing legal counsel over a bargaining council decision favouring the reinstatement of five officials suspended for misconduct, linked to the irregular Rooiwal wastewater tender. 
 
In 2019, the capital city awarded a R250 million contract to a consortium linked to controversial businessman Edwin Sodi to upgrade the Rooiwal waster water treatment plant.

The contract was later deemed unlawful, with five senior officials within the city implicated. 
 
The Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant is supposed to clean water that will be supplied to Hammanskraal and other surrounding areas north of Pretoria. 
 
However, the plant has not been operating optimally for many years, leading to residents in the affected areas not having clean water. 
 
On Wednesday, the Tshwane municipality finally returned safe-to-drink water in some parts of Hammanskraal thanks to the successful installation of the Magalies Klipdrift plant. 

READ: 20 years later, clean drinking tap water in Hammanskraal

Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya said the municipality was committed to holding people accountable for the Rooiwal tender. 
 
“There was a reason they were suspended in the first place and we have to study what the outcome of the arbitration process is, and there is also a punitive R2 million (the municipality was ordered to pay the two-month salaries of the five suspended officials) that we did not budget for.

“So, it's quite important the senior counsel guides us in terms of our prospects as the City of Tshwane [are].”
 
The South African Local Bargaining Council (SALBGC) ordered the five suspended employees to return to work on 20 January.