Why I quit as top Tshwane official - Ngobeni
Believed to be the highest paid public official in the country, Jason Ngobeni caught many by surprise when he announced his resignation.
|||Pretoria - Former Tshwane municipal manager Jason Ngobeni caught many by surprise when he announced his resignation during the inaugural council meeting of the new term about two weeks ago.
Ngobeni had just presided over the swearing-in ceremony of councillors and election of Katlego Rachel Mathebe as the new speaker of council. This was ahead of the inauguration of Solly Msimanga as mayor.
Believed to be the highest paid public official in the country, Ngobeni announced he was leaving the city with immediate effect and used the occasion to make it known that he would hand over his resignation letter to Msimanga.
“The contribution that my team has made to the city will make the task of the incoming administration much easier,” he said at the time.
He resigned just days before his contract was scheduled to expire. Had he stayed on, his last day would have been on Wednesday.
Ngobeni told the Pretoria News on Monday that his decision to announce his resignation at the inauguration of the mayor was to give the new administration enough time to look for a city manager.
“It was befitting to resign at that moment. I had a couple of days left to serve, which was going to be highly insignificant,” said Ngobeni. “It has been an honour and privilege to serve the citizens of the capital city as their city manager for the past five years.”
More recently, Ngobeni has been making frequent trips to the National Treasury, raising speculation that he might be employed there.
However, Ngobeni denied that he was to be employed by the Treasury. “I am still in the market looking for a job. As soon as I’m employed, I’ll make sure it is public knowledge,” he said.
sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za
Pretoria News