Gauteng government must lay cards on the table regarding Emfuleni crisis 

4 June 2018

The sudden resignation of Emfuleni Mayor, Mr Jacob Khawe, a mere seven months after the ANC appointed him as mayor, signals serious problems in the municipality.

The FF Plus insists that the Gauteng government, and in particular the Premier, Mr David Makhura, and the MEC for Local Government, Mr Uhuru Moiloa, must lay the cards on the table for the tax payers of Gauteng and Emfuleni and that the true extent of the municipality’s financial crisis must be disclosed.

The FF Plus asked Mr Makhura to step in on the 12th of April already as the Emfuleni crisis was getting out of hand.

At that stage, Emfuleni was already in a state of utter chaos because the municipality was unable to pay its outstanding accounts. On the 4th of May this year, the FF Plus also spoke with the MEC, Mr Moila, about the crisis.

The FF Plus welcomes the fact that the municipality has been placed under semi-administration in accordance with Section 139(5)(a) of the National Constitution. The FF Plus also insists that the matter must be dealt with in an appropriate manner and that the MEC will disclose a recovery plan for Emfuleni this coming Wednesday.

The recovery plan must ensure that the municipality performs its duty by providing basic services to residents and paying the outstanding Eskom and Rand Water accounts.

The FF Plus hopes that Mr Khawe’s resignation is the consequence of the crisis in which Emfuleni finds itself and that it is not an internal political ploy by the ANC to prevent Khawe from standing as candidate for the ANC’s provincial secretary, who will be appointed later this year at the ANC’s Gauteng conference. If the ANC does indeed use his resignation as a political football, it will only go to show how far they are willing to go in a desperate attempt to hold onto power.

Issued by Philip van Staden, FF Plus MPL: Gauteng Legislature, 4 June 2018