Court orders official to pay R550 000
A senior Knysna municipal manager has been ordered to pay over half-a-million rand out of his own pocket for wrongfully advising his previous employer, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, to rezone residential land for the development of a luxury hotel and chapel.
According to a report on HeraldLive yesterday, the recommendation by former Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Human Settlements head, Lindile Petuna, cost the municipality hundreds of thousands in legal fees as it attempted to rectify the wrongdoing and demolish aspects of the lavish development along the Kragga Kamma Road in PE.
The land belongs to Port Elizabeth businesswoman, Yvette Giorgio.
Last week the Port Elizabeth High Court heard that Petuna’s recommendations were in conflict with restrictive conditions in the title deeds, and found his unlawful conduct led the municipality to incur irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
He was finally ordered to pay R552 900. Petuna and his lawyers did not arrive for the trial, and judgement was granted in default, according to HeraldLive.
In August 2019 Petuna was appointed as Human Settlements Manager in Knysna and also as a member of the Knysna Planning Tribunal. At the time the DA’s Constituency head, Dion George, questioned Petuna’s appointments, citing over 100 disciplinary charges against him, many in connection with irregular planning approvals at the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. “Petuna, who also features prominently in Crispian Olver’s book How to Steal a City, has been accused of misleading or attempting to mislead the Nelson Mandela Bay council on 133 separate occasions after which he resigned at his disciplinary hearing,” George said.
However, former Knysna Municipal Manager (now suspended) Sitembele Vatala, remained adamant that Petuna was the most suitable candidate for the positions.
Reappointed to tribunal
Petuna remained in his positions, and in May this year, when a new term for the planning tribunal commenced and new members could be appointed, former Acting Municipal Manager Dr Michele Gratz recommended that Petuna remain on the tribunal, a recommendation that was accepted by Council.
Shortly thereafter, the Knysna Ratepayers’ Association (KRA) sent a letter to Gratz asking if she was aware of Petuna’s record at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and if she had contacted them to obtain the details of the charges against him and the outcomes. It also wanted to know if Petuna had disclosed the charges against him in his employment application form to Knysna Municipality, and if the panel discussed the charges and the risk of including him on a quasi-judicial body tasked with making important development decisions.
At the time Gratz stated in a press release that an evaluation panel consisting of herself, senior managers and the managers of human resources and legal services sat on 12 May to deliberate the nominations.
Gratz resigned from Knysna Municipality on 28 May. According to the KRA they never received a satisfactory response from either the municipality or Gratz.
This is a developing story and both Petuna’s and the municipality’s comments will be published in a follow-up report as soon as they are received.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News