The Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has scolded KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka for approving the irregular appointment of an underqualified ANC cadre as a government official in 2020. This happened during his Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC tenure. Gcaleka also instructed KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli to act against Hlomuka for engineering Mncedisi Joeman Makuyi’s irregular appointment as Deputy Director for Fire and Rescue Services in June 2020. At the time, Makuyi was a prominent ANC member in…

The suspended director for supply chain management in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in KwaZulu-Natal has resigned from his position before he could face a disciplinary hearing for his alleged corrupt deeds. Sibusiso Mncadi threw in the towel in a letter dated 17 February 2025 which was sent to the Head of Department (HoD), Dr Joey Krishnan. He joins two other senior officials who left the department under a dark cloud after being charged for alleged…

King Misuzulu KaZwelithini has filled the first critical post that was left vacant last week he abruptly fired Prince Simphiwe of KwaMinyamanzi as his representative in the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, and in the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders in Cape Town. The Zulu King has since appointed Prince Sylope Gumbela Zulu from the Mandlakazi Royal House in Nongoma to take over the position. This is contained in a letter seen by the African Times…

Two senior KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) officials who were suspended in September last year for alleged financial misconduct that occurred before the May 2024 general elections have resigned.  Yali Joyi, the former chief financial officer (CFO), resigned on January 6, and Ntombizethu Dlamini, the director for local economic development (LED) project support, followed in her footsteps a few days later. The duo were among the development’s top five senior officials.  In her letter of resignation, Joyi…

The troubled Nongoma Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal has finally appointed Mpumelelo Bongani Mnguni as the acting municipal manager, averting a salary payment disaster that would have seen about 260 employees going to Christmas unpaid. Mnguni’s appointment was ratified during a special council sitting called after employees were not paid on Friday because there was no municipal manager authorised to make salary payments. The appointment is a major climb down by the council after it initially defied a court order…

About 260 desperate employees of the cash-strapped Nongoma Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal started their festive season on a sad note after their December salaries were not paid on time. The struggling municipality also failed to pay its legion of councillors. Both the employees and the councillors were supposed to get their salaries on Friday, 20 December, but were left high and dry. The delay forced the council to hold a special sitting and later the workforce was told that their…

Prince Mbonisi Zulu, the nemesis of King Misuzulu Ka Zwelithini who was last week fired by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), is not taking the matter lying down. The senior Zulu prince, a half brother to the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, has unleashed his lawyers on the department to challenge the sacking. In a letter obtained by the African Times, addressed to the department led by MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, Prince Mbonisi’s lawyers denied that…

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in KwaZulu-Natal has fired a senior Zulu royal prince for alleged absenteeism. Prince Mbonisi Zulu was fired through a letter dated 9 December 2024.  He worked as a researcher in the anthropology division tasked with resolving chieftaincy disputes in the province.  “It has been noted that you have failed to report for duty as from the 1st of October 2024 to date. You failed to present yourself for compulsory headcount during…

A report to the council of Endumeni (Dundee) Local Municipality in north-western KwaZulu-Natal has recommended that the officials who underpriced and sold a municipal grader worth R1.7 million for R550 000 be hauled over the coals. This report also formed part of the resolutions passed during a meeting late November this year when the matter came up for discussion. In 2023, the municipality resolved that a faulty grader be disposed of in a public auction. However, the process was tainted…

A senior manager in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) has obtained a protection order against the spokesperson of the MK Party in the Uthukela region, Mncedisi Makuyi, an employee of the department. Mzwandile Hadebe first obtained an interim order from the Pietermaritzburg magistrate court on November 20, 2024. He later obtained a final one early this week. Radebe accused Makuyi of harassing and threatening him because he claims he got him fired from his plum…