Chair of Municipal Demarcation Board has conflict of interest
Today the Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal information that indicates that the Chairperson of the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), Landiwe Mahlangu, holds a conflict of interest in the current municipal mergers taking place in Gauteng.
We believe that this conflict could have had a serious impact on the outcome of the MDB's decision to merge Midvaal Municipality and Emfuleni Municipality into a metro.
MDB Chairperson, Landiwe Mahlangu, is a non-executive member of a company called Sea Kay Holdings.
This company provides construction services to various clients, including low-cost government housing.
This has included housing contracts within the Emfuleni municipality. In 2008, the Department of Housing in Gauteng contracted Sea Kay Holdings to build 1500 housing units in Emfuleni. The value of the contract is R 58.2 million.
Furthermore, Mr Mahlangu, is also a non-executive member on the board of a waste management company called Interwaste.
According to Emfuleni's 2012/2013 annual report, Interwaste operates the Waldrift landfill site in Emfuleni municipality.
The DA believes that this is a serious conflict of interest on behalf of the MDB Chair and that his decision making process is questionable by virtue of these two positions.
Mr Mahlangu's position as Chair of the MDB allows him to make decisions around the disbandment of municipalities and the movement of municipal boundaries. It is highly unethical therefore for Mr Mahlangu to make decisions over the merging of municipalities in which he has business interests.
The general process behind the merging of the Midvaal and Emfuleni municipalities has already been called into question after vigorous community opposition to the merger. The MDB has also blatantly overlooked the objective requirements of the Municipal Demarcations Act provisions for forming a metro.
The DA has governed Midvaal since December 2000 and has turned the municipality into the centre of service delivery and job creation in Gauteng. This is reflected in the provincial government's own Quality of Life survey which ranks Midvaal top in Gauteng.
We know that merging Midvaal with Emfuleni will only hinder service delivery and kill jobs.
The people of Midvaal know the DA difference and we believe that the rest of Gauteng deserves the same.
The DA will do everything in its power to ensure that Midvaal continues to provide excellent service delivery to the people who reside there. We will bring this same level of delivery to Gauteng as a whole if elected to govern in 2014.
Due to this conflict of interest, the DA will today request that Mr Mahlangu steps down immediately from his position as Chairperson of the MDB. Mr Mahlangu should at the very least have recused himself from the decision to merge these municipalities due to the lucrative business interests he holds.
We believe that a fundamental lack of integrity has been demonstrated by Mr Mahlangu that undermines the credibility of the MDB in general, and that he should resign to preserve the standing of this important constitutional body.
Furthermore, we are seeking legal opinion to review of the decision made by the MDB on the merging of Midvaal municipality and Emfuleni. We cannot accept an obviously flawed decision made by someone who currently has an interest in government contracts in the area and may well continue to benefit from them in the future.
Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, DA Premier Candidate for Gauteng, October 23 2013
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