Municipal Manager sues newspaper for R150 000

The municipal manager of the Makhado Municipality is claiming R150 000 in damages from the Zoutpansberger and its sister paper, the Limpopo Mirror, after they reported on allegations of corruption and nepotism earlier this year. She also claims R200 000 from the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) for defamation of character.

Papers were last week served on the newspapers by the officer of the high court on instruction of Ms Faith Muthambi, municipal manager of the Makhado Municipality. The first respondent in this case is the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), with Zoutnet CC, owners of the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror, being the second respondent.

The alleged defamation of character stems from a protest march held by SAMWU in April this year. During the protest march, SAMWU accused the municipal manager of corruption and nepotism. A memorandum was also handed over to the town’s mayor, where the various grievances were set out. The more serious allegations concerned a tender of just over R3,7 million that was awarded to a close friend of Ms Muthambi for the rehabilitation of a street in Waterval. The contract was never completed by the original contractor, in spite of his receiving an additional R2 million to complete it.

On April 24, the Makhado Municipality’s executive committee recommended that Muthambi be suspended. Their decision was, however, not implemented after a proposal by the Chief Whip of the ANC in Council, Cllr Rufus Selepe, that the entire recommendation of the executive committee be revoked until a full investigation was completed. Shortly afterwards, Muthambi was put on 24 days special leave to allow Council to conduct an investigation into the allegations. When she returned to work after the 24 days, members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) immediately embarked on an illegal strike, downing tools and bringing service delivery to a halt out of protest against Muthambi’s return.

At the best of times the relationship between Muthambi and SAMWU has been shaky; a relationship that further worsened after Muthambi first suspended and later fired a former local chairman of SAMWU, Mr James Sikhwari. Following the strike and adding further insult to injury, Council soon afterwards decided to carry out their mandate to suspend Muthambi with full pay as from June 27.

From the onset, Muthambi contested the legality of her suspension with regard to the procedure followed. On September 15, the Labour Court ruled in her favour. This apparently caused somewhat of a dilemma for Council as promises were allegedly made to SAMWU on a political level that Muthambi would not return to work.

As was the case earlier this year, SAMWU again embarked on an illegal strike after Muthambi’s return. A court interdict had to be obtained to force the SAMWU members to return to work.
Muthambi has not been charged and, until her return to work two weeks ago, she had been sitting at home with full pay for some five months. She is now also claiming a performance bonus in excess of R80 000.

Anton van Zyl, manager of the two newspapers, this week confirmed that they will oppose the summons. “It is sad when newspapers get dragged into these fights,” he said. “The allegations made against Ms Muthambi are of a serious nature and it is of essence that the public be informed about what happened. In this case, the right to freedom of expression outweighs a public figure’s right to privacy.”

Mr Van Zyl said Ms Muthambi is entitled to be upset about the allegations that were levelled against her, but it serves no purpose to go after the messenger. “Our reporting was accurate, fair and in the interest of the community the two newspapers serve. Ms Muthambi was asked for a reply on all occasions by the reporters, but she opted not to give her side of the story. In order to ensure a balanced ap-proach, the reporters went out of their way to get comments from all parties involved,” he said.

Mr Albert Mapshusa, local secretary of SAMWU, on Wednesday morning said that they have not received any notification of a summons yet and therefore could not comment on the issue.
“We are still waiting for the forensic audit report [regarding Muthambi]. After the forensic audit report we can comment. For now we can’t say anything,” Mapshusa said.

News - Date: 14 November 2008

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