Bongi Sithole

Who is Bongi Sithole?

Bongi Sithole is a member of the African National Congress and former mayor of Umgungundlovu District Municipality. In 2008, she was fired from her mayoral post for the misappropriation of council funds and the appointment of unqualified persons to senior positions. In March 2009, however, she landed a R620,000-per-annum job with the KwaZulu-Natal government, courtesy of MEC for Local Government Mike Mabuyakhulu.

As late as early April, however, local media were reporting that Sithole was out of a job and owed many thousands of Rands to various creditors, and that her furniture and car were soon to be auctioned for the purpose. On 13 April, however, the Inkatha Freedom Party, official opposition to the ANC in KZN, reported that it had been "reliably informed" that Sithole had recently been appointed Dispute Resolution Manager in the provincial Department of Local Government, "in a process riddled with irregularities and irony."

According to IFP local government spokesperson Peter Smith, "Sithole was appointed at the end of March in a hurry to fill vacancies across the provincial government before the election. Her job was never advertised and was apparently created for her by the Head of Department Gabi Gumbi-Masilela." Smith described the appointment as "a textbook example of conflict of interest", noting that in her new role Sithole will oversee disputes between the department and the municipalities in spite of the fact that Umgungundlovu, the municipality from which she was ousted, is one of them.