Staff Reporter
Mangaung Metro councillors have voted to put city manager Tankiso Mea on precautionary suspension during a special sitting held virtually this evening.
Speaker Mxolisi Siyonzana announced at the end of the vote that 61 councillors voted in favour of the motion to suspend the city manager while 29 voted against it.
There was one abstention.
The head of department for local economic development at the municipality, Teboho Maine, will act in his position.
The suspension is meant to pave the way for an investigation against Mea which was initially approved by the council on March 18.
The voting was expected to be conducted on Thursday but the speaker adjourned the council meeting to Friday.
The reason for the adjournment, according to a statement released by the municipality, was to prepare for the vote in line with the rules and orders of the council.
Mea faces a host of accusations including favouritism in the awarding of certain contracts, alleged favouritism when hiring staff and poor management practices, among others.
This week’s protests forced council to have the special sitting after it initially failed to agree on whether Mea should be put on special leave or precautionary suspension to make way for the investigation.
Mangaung Community Concern (MCC), which organised the shutdown which brought the city to a standstill at the beginning of the week, demanded the suspension of Mea as one of the conditions to get residents off the streets.
MCC also wants Mangaung, among other things, to urgently improve service delivery, improve access to business opportunities for residents, implement sound management in municipal affairs, improve access to land and deal with corrupt and aloof government officials.