The former Metro FM station manager Sibongile Mtyali was allegedly fired by Kaya 959 after Sizwe Dhlomo complained about sports presenter Mpho Maboi allegedly continually arriving late for their show. City Press reveals that Mtyali has been accused of favouritism and being a bully by some staff members at the popular Gauteng station. Sunday World reports that Mtyali was fired on Friday (25 November) while sources from the station told City Press this week that when Mtyali received Dhlomo’s complaint, she highlighted that it was within Maboi’s rights, as stipulated in her contract, to arrive an hour before the show begins at 3 pm.

“It’s been a norm that Sizwe arrives at 1 pm, but the contract indicates that presenters of the show are expected to be in the studio at 2 pm, so when Sibongile made him aware of this aspect, he claimed that he could no longer work with her.” “Since Sizwe did not get what he wanted, numerous people have anonymously lodged complaints to the board about Mtyali, citing that she is never available to staffers and she does not resolve complaints, basically saying that she is a bad manager. The allegations were investigated and proven to be untrue, but they terminated her contract anyway,” said the source. “People at the station are actually scared of him [Sizwe] since it is a known fact that he has very close ties with the board members,” said another source.

Another source adds that the matter could end up in court as the board refused to pay her for the remaining 19 years of the 20-year contract she signed with the station in 2021. “They are pushing her out and only want to pay her for the next three months. It’s surprising that they are pulling out all the stops to force her to leave. She is saying that the station should pay her for the remainder of the contract since she has not broken any company policy.” The mole added that Mtyali’s mistake was entertaining a complaint laid by a music compiler claiming that Dhlomo used his own music choices on the show.