- A failed departmental transfer meant Munwai had no official reporting line for almost three years.
- The municipality said he received R2.52 million in salaries and benefits without doing any work.
- The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg threw out the municipality’s application and lifted the freeze on his pension.
For almost three years, Azwindini Silence Munwai stayed on the Emfuleni Local Municipality’s payroll, even though nobody could say for sure who he was supposed to report to.
It all started with an attempt to transfer the senior engineering technician from Parks and Cemeteries to the Sports and Recreation Department in October 2020. But that move left Munwai stuck in employment limbo, which eventually led to a court fight over R2.52 million in salaries, attendance records and his pension.
The proposed transfer was meant to fix a long-running workplace conflict after Munwai had already been moved out of Parks and Cemeteries. Human resources manager Diek Mahlaba spoke with him about the change, but the transfer never happened because Munwai had concerns about the grading of the post and his working conditions.
Since there was no formal decision, Munwai wrote to the Executive Director of Community Services on 25 February 2021, asking for clarity about who he should report to. In his memo, he said that until he got guidance, he would report to the human resources department. The municipality never showed any proof that it told him to do otherwise.
Munwai kept his job until 24 July 2023, when he resigned with immediate effect. He handed in his notice just days after newspapers reported that he had still been getting paid by the municipality, even though he was not at work. That is when Emfuleni launched an internal investigation.
The municipality decided Munwai had not shown up for duty or done any work between October 2020 and when he resigned. They took the matter to the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, asking for R2 523 882.02 in salaries, allowances and bonuses to be repaid, and said they wanted to take the money from his pension if he did not pay up.
Municipality’s case
Emfuleni argued that Munwai had pretty much disappeared from work but kept getting paid. Their case was built on affidavits from managers who said he never reported to them, along with an internal investigation that questioned whether the attendance registers were genuine and recommended taking the money from his pension.
Munwai denied that he had abandoned his job. He said the failed transfer left him stuck in administrative limbo, but he still reported through other channels, first to former assistant manager Azwindini Mundalamo and later to human resources. Mundalamo backed him up with a confirmatory affidavit.
Court finds evidence falls short
Acting Judge C Carelse found that the municipality only managed to show that Munwai did not report to certain managers. It did not prove the main accusation, that he did no work at all during the disputed period.
The judge also called out the municipality’s own actions. It kept paying Munwai for nearly three years, never disciplined him for not showing up, never fired him, and only started investigating after the media coverage and his resignation. Their own investigation also flagged problems with attendance monitoring and reporting controls.
Carelse made it clear the judgment did not mean Munwai definitely did his job the whole time. The ruling was just that the municipality had not proved otherwise, especially since there were real disputes about the facts.
Pension claim rejected
Emfuleni also tried to get hold of Munwai’s pension under section 37D of the Pension Funds Act, saying the allegedly fake attendance registers justified docking his pension.
The court rejected that claim, finding there was not enough evidence to show who really faked the disputed signatures, or to connect the registers to the salary payments, or to prove the kind of dishonesty needed to take away a pension benefit.
The application was dismissed, the freeze on Munwai’s pension benefit was lifted, and Emfuleni Local Municipality was told to pay his legal costs for both parts of the case.
Get your news on the go. Click here to follow the Conviction WhatsApp channel.
