Dr Ruth Segomotsi Municipality’s legal action against NW Government's intervention nothing but ANC factional battles

02 July 2021

Last week Sunday, the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality held a Special Council meeting following the announcement by the North West Provincial Government to place the municipality under Section 139 1(b) administration.

The MEC for Cooperative Governance, Mmoloki Cwaile, informed Council that a new administrator would take over the day-to-day operations of the municipality on Monday 28 June 2021.

The ANC, supported by the EFF, voted in favour of appointing an Advocate to begin legal proceedings against the intervention in the High Court.

When a municipality cannot fulfil its Constitutional mandate by ensuring service delivery, the provincial government may intervene to stabilise the municipality so that service delivery and accountability is restored.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) knows from experience that interventions by the ANC-led North West Provincial Government always fail because the appointed Administrators are loyal ANC cadres in service of a specific ANC faction and not for their skills or track record of success.

Not a single municipality in the North West province previously placed under provincial government administration showed any improvement. The most recent example is that of the Mamusa Local Municipality which was placed under administration twice, followed by the dissolution of the Council, only to see the same ANC cadres elected to government again. More than a year later there has been no improvement in the delivery of service in Mamusa, in fact, governance and service delivery has collapsed.

ANC factional infighting in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi District Municipality destabilized service delivery, and since the beginning of this year, the factional battles have intensified.

The Executive Mayor, Boitumelo Mahlangu, was removed during a Council meeting that did not quorate, the Municipal Manager was sacked without following proper procedure and two Senior Managers were suspended as well.

The municipality has not recovered financially since the loss of R150 million illegally invested in the now-defunct VBS bank, this drained money from the already cash-strapped municipality and halted all capital projects.

The ANC’s decision to take legal action against the intervention is nothing but a way to settle factional differences within their party at the detriment of good governance and service delivery.

The only way to ensure real change is for people to vote out the failing ANC government and vote for the DA to get things done by rebuilding what the ANC has destroyed.

Statement issued by Cllr Coenrad Herbst - DA Councillor: Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, 2 July 2021