Spotlight on Tshwane’s embattled Chief Financial Officer, Gareth Mnisi | Cleared by report, yet Madlanga Commission fallout lingers

The embattled Chief Financial Officer for the Tshwane Municipality, Gareth Mnisi, finally has a bit of good news.

That’s because he has been cleared of allegations regarding his “unexplained wealth”, alleged misrepresentations on his CV and failing to declare all his business interests.

He is, however, still being investigated following revelations at the Madlanga Commission that he allegedly colluded with Sergeant Fannie Nkosi, along with other senior officials, to rig tenders at the municipality.

Earlier this month, EWN reported that the Tshwane Council held an in-committee meeting to discuss some of the allegations against Mnisi - this was before his name was mentioned at the Madlanga Commission.

The allegations stemmed from two letters written to the city manager. One was from the ANC in Tshwane and the other from the Republican Conference of Tshwane, which is represented by a single councillor, Lex Middelberg.

As mentioned, the crux of the allegations was that Mnisi had significant unexplained wealth and had lied on his CV.

This matter dates back to 2024, when Mnisi went through a messy divorce that ended up in the Gauteng High Court. As a result, court documents became public.

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From those documents, Mnisi is listed as being extremely wealthy, with a net worth estimated between R70 million and R80 million.

He reportedly owns a fleet of luxury sports cars, at least ten properties registered in his name and has several lucrative business interests.

This naturally piqued the interest of some political parties in Tshwane, who questioned how a 36-year-old man, who has largely worked in government for most of his adult life, accumulated such wealth.

A confidential report was recently tabled before an in-committee council meeting - meaning it was held behind closed doors.

The report states that prior to being appointed as Chief Financial Officer in Tshwane, Mnisi - like all Section 56 managers - was subjected to an intensive vetting process.

This vetting was conducted by the State Security Agency, which made no adverse findings against him, effectively clearing him.

Secondly, the report states that Mnisi has consistently declared all his business interests, with no red flags identified.

The third and final allegation was that Mnisi misrepresented his CV by claiming he worked for National Treasury. However, the report confirms that he did, in fact, work as an advisor in the Municipal Finance Improvement Programme.

The report further notes that the State Security Agency conducts ongoing background checks on senior managers, including verification of employment history, qualifications, and other integrity-related assessments.

So that is the position on that matter.

As you may already know, in that same in-committee council meeting, a motion was passed requiring Mnisi to provide written reasons why he should not be placed on suspension.

This relates to a separate investigation into allegations at the Madlanga Commission that he was involved in the rigging of tenders at the Tshwane Municipality.