Cadre deployment on steroids as ANC-led Joburg appoints new Head of Legal
1 September 2021
ActionSA has learned of the blatant cadre deployment taking place in the City of Joburg, with the anointment of Mbulelo Ruda, to the position of Head of Group Legal. Ruda, a hardened ANC cadre and former Chief of Staff to Mayor Geoff Makhubo, was previously removed from this role following residents’ election of the multi-party coalition government in 2016.
Ruda’s recent appointment is a matter of grave concern. With the Council’s term effectively over, the move to transfer Ruda from the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, a highly politicised position linked to the political principal’s term of office, to a Section 56 manager with a fixed 5-year term, smacks of political patronage and is nothing more than a golden handshake to a loyal cadre. Under the multi-party government, Ruda lost this position when his contract ended, and he was replaced with a more competent candidate. Indeed, the courts ultimately supported the City’s decision after Ruda sought to challenge the matter.
It was under Ruda’s previous tenure as Head of Legal Services, during Mayor Parks Tau’s term of office, that our multi-party government uncovered over R34 billion of fraud and corruption, which he failed to act upon. The City of Johannesburg’s prime piece of real estate, where the Sandton Gautrain Station is now located, was literally donated to a Gupta-linked company without a cent to the city. Yet, a title deed was issued.
To serve residents, senior managers within the city must be appointed based on the skills required to deliver real services to communities. ActionSA believes in the professionalisation of the public service with civil servants who are committed to excellence. Cadre deployment only serves to undermine the needs of residents by placing party loyalty above competency, and ultimately, the public service.
In appointing Ruda, it is deeply concerning that none of the political parties in Council opposed such blatant political patronage.
When I was elected Mayor of the City of Joburg, the multi-party government inherited millionaire senior managers who answered to Luthuli House only – to the detriment of residents. Many found it more important to undermine the work of the multi-party government, and effectively, undermine the electoral outcome of 2016. We conducted a skills audit that found that a great deal of these millionaire managers were not fit for purpose.
That is why we embarked on the Service with Pride campaign which worked to build a non-partisan and professional civil service that served residents. Those who were unwilling to serve residents rather than their parties were removed for gross incompetence and politically motivated sabotage of governance processes. This is something I do not apologise for and it is something I will continue to fight for. Fixing the City of Johannesburg and South Africa requires civil servants who are committed, skilled, and fit for purpose, not faux politicians.
Sadly, in his time in office, former Mayor Makhubo re-appointed many of these questionable figures, rewarding their “loyalty” with high-paying jobs in the Mayor’s Office. Ruda was at the front of the line, followed by his former caucus mate Ruby Mathang, who was made an Advisor to the Mayor and then also questionably transferred to act as CEO of the Joburg Property Company, a CoJ-owned Municipal Entity.
I will be writing to the Speaker of Council, Cllr Nonceba Molwele, to demand a copy of the Appointment Report which was allegedly passed by Council recently as the City’s Group Head: Legal is a manager accountable to the City Manager and the processing of such appointments is the preserve of Council in terms of legislation. This is a public document and the Speaker should therefore have no difficulty taking the residents of Johannesburg into her confidence as to the process followed in the appointment of this cadre.
Given the mandate by the residents in the coming elections, ActionSA will challenge Ruda’s appointment – especially given that this Council’s term of office has effectively expired. We will not allow the ANC to impose their cadres on residents.
ActionSA stands firmly against the principle of cadre deployment, which has been used to reward ANC loyalists at the expense of service delivery. The upcoming local government elections will be the first opportunity to begin the process of unseating the ANC and destroying its self-enriching, cadre deployment machinery which steals from all South Africans for the benefit of their members, cronies, and funders.
Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 1 September 2021
