Nelson Mandela Bay’s acting executive director of electricity and energy, Tholi Biyela, was forcibly removed from his office at the Munelek building on Tuesday by disgruntled officials who accused him of undermining them and ruling with an iron fist.
A large group of officials, accompanied by leaders of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), stormed Biyela’s office, demanding his resignation from the position.
His removal was preceded by a union meeting.
During the meeting, officials voiced their dissatisfaction with Biyela, and a resolution was passed to remove him from office.
Acting city manager Ted Pillay has since called a top-level management meeting for Wednesday to discuss the issue and workers’ grievances.
Samwu shop steward Ayanda Solani said Biyela allegedly undermined engineers who had worked in the city for years by starting a process to appoint Eskom as an independent contractor.
“On top of this, Eskom will also bring its service providers to work on the municipal infrastructure,” Solani said.
“It is as if we are not capable of doing the work we studied for and have been doing all our professional lives.
“This partnership means that Eskom will be procuring material on behalf of the municipality and will attend to electricity faults at a cost.
“This will cost the municipality twice for the same job.”
Solani said Biyela wrote a memorandum and prepared a service level agreement that just needed Pillay’s approval.
“The turnaround strategy [for the electricity directorate] has not been presented and agreed with the unions, but Biyela is ready to present it at the next standing committee.”
Solani said they were unhappy with Biyela calling a meeting to address workers without Samwu, in which he bashed the union.
Biyela has been at odds with some officials in the directorate who have previously accused him of threatening their lives when he said in a meeting that “lives will be shed”.
On the other hand, Biyela opened a case with the police in July after receiving an anonymous phone call from a stranger who said “You won’t see the sun rise tomorrow”.
Working relations between Biyela and staff have created unfavourable conditions for all parties involved.
Biyela did not respond to a request for comment.
Electricity and energy political head Ziyanda Mnqokoyi said, based on information they had received, the only concern raised with Biyela was that staff did not want him in the post.
“The Eskom issue is new to me.
“However, if this concern was raised by the workers regarding the involvement of Eskom in certain technical operations, it has been noted.
“It is important to clarify that the municipality, like many others across the country, occasionally engages with Eskom or other entities when specialised or high-risk technical assistance is required, particularly in instances where the stability of the local grid or resident safety may be at stake.
“This is not a reflection on the competency of our internal teams but rather a strategic step to augment capacity and ensure service continuity.”
Regarding allegations about Biyela’s management style, Mnqokoyi said they would be investigated through the proper channels.
“I will work closely with the city manager and labour representatives to restore calm, address underlying concerns and ensure that the interests of the residents remain the top priority.”
When the reporter arrived at Munelek, one of the workers who spoke at the gathering said Biyela made their work harder and would confront subordinates over office gossip.
“Biyela is entertaining gossip and threatening to suspend people,” the worker said.
“He has a bullying kind of leadership style.
“His appointment as acting executive director with only five months in the metro was a huge disaster.
“He comes from a small local municipality in Knysna and has no experience of running a metro department.
“To add to that, he doesn’t have experience and is not mature.”
A second worker said Biyela, by bringing Eskom in, was saying they could not do their jobs.
“Many of our colleagues are on leave because they can’t deal with his leadership style of threatening people.
“We can’t continue like this.
“He must go and we will continue doing our jobs as we have been all along.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya condemned Biyela’s removal.
He said such conduct undermined the law, workplace discipline and institutional processes to resolve disputes.
“We can confirm that an unlawful incident involving the forceful removal of Biyela occurred this morning,” Soyaya said.
“This is being investigated and dealt with through the appropriate legal and disciplinary channels.
“Security and legal measures are being put in place to ensure Biyela’s safety and to prevent any recurrence of such incidents.
“Leadership appointments follow formal governance processes and decisions cannot be made through unlawful or coercive means.
“Biyela’s acting contract remains valid until further notice or formal review by the city manager, who has the delegated authority in this regard.”
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