ANC KZN gives thumbs up to COGTA for placing eMandlangeni municipality under administration
23 January 2017
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal has commended Cogta for the implementation of the Provincial Cabinet decision to place eMadlangeni municipality in Utrecht at Emalahleni Region under administration.
The implementation of the Provincial cabinet decision to place eMadlangeni under administration for a year in terms of Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution should be seen as an effective and decisive act to demonstrate zero tolerance on non-performance which affect service delivery to our people.
Few months ago, the ANC has been concerned about poor governance and administrative collapse which resulted in legally questionable council decisions and the culture of impunity in this council.
Amongst other things which were indicative of failure of the council to function was non-adherence to the rule of law in the council. This added to the state of affairs which continued to cripple the service delivery in the community.
The council faced challenges including failure not only to function at the council’s level but failed even to provide basic needs of the people.
The report by the Cogta MEC, Cde Nomusa Dube-Ncube painted a picture of an institution with no leadership, collapsed systems and lack of internal controls. This is something we strongly condemn as the African National Congress because this state of affairs is contrary to the values of our movement.
This drastic action by MEC Dube-Ncube has also debunked the often-quoted accusation by the Opposition that the MEC has only been putting under administration those municipalities led by Opposition. This also affirms the ANC’s stance on maladministration and corruption.
It is clear that the municipality has been operating like a “banana republic” where legislative prescripts governing the council were deliberately not being observed.
The ANC has been very concerned about political infighting which has resulted in irregular decisions by the municipal council resulting to the suspension of the Municipal Manager and the appointment of an Acting Municipal Manager who did not meet the requisite requirements for the job.
The ANC led government remains extremely intolerant and opposed to this blatant disregard for municipal systems and ethical governance. This should serve as a reminder to all our deployed cadres about the importance of serving our people and leading the institutions of governance in dignified manner.
On our 2016 Local Government Election Manifesto we made a firm undertaking to give exemplary leadership and lead on clean governance. We wish to encourage the provincial government and Cogta to always act firm, decisive and urgently against wrong doing in all ANC led municipalities in our province.
We call on the people and residents of eMadlangeni municipality to support the decision of their provincial government to ensure stability.
Issued by Mdumiseni Ntuli, Provincial Spokesperson, ANC KZN, 23 January 2017
