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Over the past 24 hours the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg has been inundated with whistleblowers sharing information about the lack of will by the City Manager and the administration to act on alleged misconduct by Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) Senior officials and the implementation of the findings by the Special Investigations Unit.

The litany of complaints include the following allegations:

• Sexual harassment of staff;
• Staff victimisation by the CEO;
• Lack of payment of salaries to employees; and
• The institution of disciplinary hearings against the CEO and CFO

The allegations, and the institution of disciplinary hearings against the CEO and CFO specifically date back as far as 2020. These allegations relate to the findings of the Final Audit Report applicable to JPC, and the decision was taken by the board to institute these measures.

The hearing, that was scheduled for the 1st of December 2020 never took place, and the administration has failed to hold these senior officials accountable.

It's for this reason that we have written to members of parliament to report senior officials in JPC to the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The DA has written to the Executive Mayor, the City Manager, and the Group Head of Group Governance about the chaos in city owned entities on many occasions. Now, the JPC CEO’s contract has been extended yet again. We demand that her reappointment be rescinded until we have finality on her disciplinary hearing.

In addition to the DA’s demands for the appointments to be rescinded, we demand:

• An immediate independent forensic audit to be conducted on all transactions signed off by the CEO of JPC since 2020;
• Lifestyle audits and a full forensic audit of financial interest of all JPC board members; and
• An independent forensic audit into all monies collected by JPC from rentals, as well as outdoor advertising and that the findings of the above be presented to council.

The city’s administration has failed to act on alleged fraud and alleged financial misconduct of certain senior managers  and clearly have no interest in stopping the misuse of residents’ money. As opposed to stopping the collapse of the city, they are now enabling it.

There is a perception that some senior managers in the CoJ are politically protected. This becomes evident in the lack of accountability and their allegrd continued misconduct.

We have now escalated this matter to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). We request the Minister's intervention, as well as an urgent investigation into the allegations, as he is empowered to do in terms of the Municipal System’s Act.

The DA will always be on the side of residents, and we will use all avenues, both internal and external, to protect the interest of our residents. No amount of bullying or intimidation will deter us from standing up for our residents.

Issued by Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku - DA Johannesburg Caucus Leader