Msimanga’s chief of staff resigns after qualifications scandal
DA scandals are quite common these days…
On Wednesday, the DA was hit with another largescale scandal after a report emerged detailing the appointment of City of Tshwane Mayor, Solly Msimanga’s Chief of Staff. By Friday, Marietha Aucamp had resigned from her position.
After the report broke on Wednesday, the City of Tshwane admitted that Marietha Aucamp was appointed Chief of Staff even though she did not have the qualifications required for the post.
Read – Msimanga mess: Tshwane mayor in hot water over unqualified staff hire
The job advert required that the candidate hold a bachelor’s degree or similar qualification. If a candidate did not meet the requirements, the Local Government Act requires municipalities to apply for a waiver from the minister of co-operative governance.
Msimanga and his team did not apply for such a waiver.
While the mayor’s spokesperson initially said that Msimanga had no involvement in appointing Aucamp, documents showed that he was on the appointment panel and even scored her the highest.
Aucamp’s CV did not list that she had any other qualifications besides her matric certificate. At some point during the selection process, a document showed up claiming that she had a BTEC qualification.
Aucamp admits that she does not have those qualifications but claims to have no idea where the form mentioning the BTEC came from.
The Chief of Staff post comes with total earnings of R1.2m per year.
The scandal led to the EFF demanding Aucamp pay back the City for the months she has worked there. In terms of the DA, the party kept quiet as no statement was put forward.
Things took another turn on Thursday night and Friday morning as Aucamp resigned from her position after discussions with the mayor.
While Msimanga claims he “had no choice” but to ask her to resign, Aucamp says she did so out of her own free will. According to her, Msimnaga did not ever ask her to resign.
While the EFF just want’s the money given back to the City, the ANC has called on Msimanga to resign.
