Former City of Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. File Photo: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers
Former Johannesburg mayor and Kabelo Gwamanda has threatened legal action against the City of Joburg speaker, Nobuhle Mthembu after he was fired as MMC for community development.
On Sunday, Mayor Dada Morero booted out Gwamanda after placing him on suspension while an internal investigation was conducted.
Last month, the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court granted 39-year-old Gwamanda bail in relation to a fraud case where he’s accused of allegedly running a funeral policy scam that he established in Soweto in 2011 and 2012.
In a statement, Morero said Gwamanda’s removal from office was to ensure that the City’s service delivery remained uninterrupted.
On Tuesday, in a letter by his lawyers addressed to the speaker of the City of Joburg, Gwamanda said his removal process lacked compliance with procedural fairness as outlined in Section 53 of the Structures Act.
The letter stated that he was not provided with any prior notice or opportunity to respond to the allegations before his dismissal.
“Furthermore, our client’s dismissal was announced publicly via a media statement from the Executive Mayor’s office without any formal notification or engagement. This approach reflects a substantial procedural flaw, as it bypassed essential internal processes, including the referral to the Ethics Committee or the Integrity Commissioner, that should have been initiated before any public announcements or dismissals were made,” read the letter.
In addition, the letter stated that a series of actions and statements by Mthembu’s office created a climate of hostility and prejudice towards Gwamanda.
“On 21 October 2024, in an interview with Newzroom Afrika, you publicly stated that MMC Kabelo Gwamanda was “going out there scamming the very same residents who voted [him] to represent them in Council.
“These remarks, issued to a national media platform, directly implicated our client in alleged criminal activities without a formal ruling by the Council’s Ethics Committee or any court of law, thus predetermining his guilt in the eyes of the public. The statement severely undermined our client’s presumption of innocence and tarnished his public image,” said the lawyers.
Moreover, the lawyers argued that the comments made on a national media platform unfairly implicated Gwamanda in supposed criminal activities and this occurred without any official judgment from the council’s ethics committee or a court of law, effectively assuming his guilt in the public's perception.
The lawyers demanded Mthembu to issue a formal public apology for the “improper statements” made regarding Gwamanda’s character and alleged involvement in criminal activities.
If the requested undertakings were not complied with on or before Thursday, it was said that Gwamanda will seek relief in the Johannesburg high court to interdict Mthembu from disclosing confidential information and making defamatory allegations against him.
“This letter should not be construed as being exhaustive of our client's grievances against you, but merely illustrative thereof. Our client's rights to fully deal with its grievances against you in the appropriate forum are expressly reserved,“ the letter said at the end.
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