Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga has defended the appointment of Moeketsi Mosola as the city manager and maintained that the process was above board.
He said the African National Congress (ANC) was grasping at straws by claiming that anything untoward had taken place during the selection process.
"You would expect the ANC to fight every decision we make. One thing I'm challenging them to do is to say we didn't follow processes. We advertised on time," he said, explaining that the candidates were then all subjected to vetting and psychometric testing by a company that was appointed not by the city but by the provincial government. "We then got the results and went through the process of interviews."
The ANC had accused Msimanga of not following proper procedures when he appointed Mosola. The party claimed Mosola was not on the list of shortlisted candidates and also that he did not meet the requirements for the position. The party further indicated that it would be challenging the appointment by writing to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Des van Rooyen and his Gauteng counterpart MEC Paul Mashatile. Msimanga has denied that and said the selection process met all requirements.
"We had a multiparty panel which has never been done before... we had Cope, EFF, ourselves and we even had an external academic professor sitting in as a member of the panel. We appointed what we believe was the best person, a well-qualified person whose track record speaks volumes about his ability to turn organisations around and implement programmes," said Msimanga.
"One thing that is exciting is that we are not in the game of cadre deployment but we will look for the best people with the best skills irrespective of where they come from. We will ensure we appoint the best people for the job and that is what Mr Mosola is."