DA to seek legal opinion on ANC appointed administrators

22 January 2024

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will seek a legal opinion and guidance on the weaponising of ANC-appointed municipal administrators in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution.

We are concerned that the ANC Provincial Government appointed administrators have become an impediment in making progress against the systematic tide of corruption and maladministration under previous ANC run municipal governments.

What we have discovered is that these administrators continue to do the bidding of their ANC masters to deliberately destabilise municipalities instead of working with our governments to fix them.

While we believe the intention of Section 139 is noble in its intent, we are of the view that the manner in which it is used and the lack of accountability relating to administration is problematic and needs further definition.

KwaZulu-Natal has 7 municipalities that have been under Section 139 as far back as 2016 which will be nearly 8 years in 2024. It cannot be that a municipality is under administration for that period of time without improvement and speaks to the lack of performance and accountability of administrators.

Some of our main concerns around the administration process are:

- Lack of accountability of administrators either to the Council or the Provincial Legislature
- Lack of performance indicators that they are required to achieve
- Political weaponisation of administrators by the Provincial Government
- The process in which administrators are appointed and continually renewed without progress
- The ability of administrators to subvert democratically elected council decisions including implementing forensic reports.

These concerns are crystallised in the uThukela District Municipality which has had an administrator for the last 6 years. It is our view that the administrator continues to do all that it can to hamper turning the municipality around, holding corrupt officials accountable and putting the municipality on a path to sustainability.

We believe that this legal opinion is critical in addressing the growing frustration across the province with the Section 139 intervention and the way it is abused. It is unthinkable that the ANC and EFF run eThekwini Municipality is not under administration and underscores the way in which the ANC abuses the Constitution to suit its own aims.

Once received, the legal review will allow us to determine a legal strategy going forward so that we can ensure municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal receive the expert support and assistance they require to be free of ANC corruption and influence.

Issued by Dean Macpherson, DA KZN Chairperson, 22 January 2024