MANYANE MANYANE and LOYISO SIDIMBA
EIGHT municipalities which are on the brink of collapse in the North West province have been placed under administration following their struggle to deliver essential services and pay the salaries of the workers.
This was after the provincial Finance MEC Motlalepula Rosho announced that would intervene in eight troubled municipalities in the province.
The municipalities are Madibeng Local Municipality, Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality, Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality, Ditsobotla Local Municipality, Mafikeng Local Municipality, Tswaing Local Municipality, Naledi Local Municipality, and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mampati District Municipality.
Rosho said the eight municipalities would be put under section 139(5)(c) of the Constitution which reads together with 146(3)(b) of the local government’ Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 2003.
She said the province will appoint the Provincial Exco Representative (PER) to provide strategic leadership and guidance necessary to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the financial recovery plan. PER, Rosho said, would also assess and ensure that reports required for decision-making in the municipality were aligned with the financial recovery plan and the objectives of this intervention.
He/she will also attend meetings of the council, mayoral executive committee, and top management to ensure decisions are consistent with the strategic objectives of the recovery plan.
“All reports for decision-making by any delegated authority including municipal council and the executive mayor must be processed by the executive mayor and or accounting officer with the concurrence of PER. PER must analyse the monthly bank and budget statements of the municipality for monitoring purposes and as an internal control measure,” said Rosho.
North West is known for violent protests related to the lack of services, especially water.
In Dr Ruth District Municipality, local municipalities are heavily affected by a lack of water. Other struggling municipalities such as Ditsobotla, Mamusa, and Moses Kotane failed to spend Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and there is a lack of service delivery in the areas.
During his 2023 budget speech on Wednesday, North West Premier Nono Maloyi said the municipalities such as Matlosana, Madibeng, Kgetlengrivier, Naledi, Ramotshere Moiloa, Tswaing, Mamusa, Leekwa Teemane, Ditsobotla, and Maquassi Hills owed Eskom a combined R5.3 billion.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke also painted a bleak picture in the North West municipalities during her audit outcome presentation in parliament this week.
Maluleke said none of the municipalities in the province received clean audits. She added that 20 municipalities spent R126.95 million on consultants.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Wednesday pointed out a few factors that could lead to the collapse of the municipalities in the North West. Mbalula said this was after the ANC branches in the province also highlighted organisational matters of concern which suggested internal divisions and how these impact service delivery.
“For example, in Ditsobotla criminal elements are masquerading as ANC leaders while in Rustenburg the poor working relationship between the offices of the mayor and the speaker threatens to render the entire municipality dysfunctional and bring service delivery to a halt.
In Mamusa we are facing a rebellion of ANC public representatives who do not want to (tow) the party line in terms of the deployment of the speaker in the council,” said Mbalula.
He added: “In this regard, the NWC directed the secretary general to constitute a National Intervention Team made up of full-time officials which, together with the Provincial Executive Committee, must urgently intervene on these matters. The next NWC meeting will receive a report on the progress made. The ANC will not tolerate any form of anarchy in its name. Decisive action is being taken where ill-discipline and failure to discharge the ANC mandate are observed,” said Mbalula.
Meanwhile, the ANC Investigative team in North West is set to meet the provincial executive committee (PEC), regarding the implementation of Motlanthe’s report on June 6, 2023.
The investigative team, which was headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, was established to look into outstanding disputes in the ANC over candidates selected to run as councillors during the local elections in 2021.