10 July 2007
Lack of transparency in the appointment of General Workers by contractors
employed by Maquassi Hills Local Municipality in the implementation of Housing
and Bucket Eradication Projects has led to unrests, turmoil and dissatisfaction
amongst the communities within the jurisdiction of the embattled Municipality.
This is one of the findings of the much awaited report on investigation of
Governance and Administration tabled by North West MEC for Developmental Local
Government and Housing, Howard Yawa at a Special Council Meeting of the
Municipality held on Monday afternoon.
The tabling of the findings and recommendations by MEC Yawa follows the
conclusion of investigations by an independent firm of attorneys appointed in
terms of section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act .The decisive action taken by
the Department was in response to Memorandums submitted to the municipality and
the Office of the Former MEC of the Department after disruption of an imbizo on
the 12 April 2007 by unemployed and concerned Youth from Lebaleng township
outside Wolmaranstadt.
The Report fingers the Municipal Manager as Accounting Officer of the
Municipality for failing to:
* seek ratification of extensions of contracts of Senior Managers in the
employ of council
* advise Council on the legality or otherwise regarding the non-transparency
and lack of equity of the procedures for the employment of general workers in
terms of employment policy although the posts were permanent posts with
substantive benefits such as Medical Aid and Pension Fund and their salaries
scale is approximately R40, 000.00 excluding benefits.
* implement Council's Employment Policy by ensuring that posts are filled
through a transparent process that includes advertisement and interviews.
The investigation team also concluded that the extension of the Municipal
Manager's contract was procedurally flawed and therefore irregular.
Recommendations tabled by the MEC for Council's consideration are that:
* All future posts of the Municipality be advertised in the local newspaper
as well as national newspapers e.g. Sowetan, City Press and Sunday Times.
* The employment policy be revised in particular regarding the employment of
general workers.
* Council must seek a full report from the Municipal Manager regarding the
extension of his contract and that of Section 57 managers and consider a
resolution regarding the following:
1. That the Municipal Manager as the Accounting Officer be held responsible
for the wrongful extension of employment contracts for Section 57
Managers.
2. That the Municipal Manager be held responsible for not advertising the post
of Director Administration, two community liaison officers and administrators
in the Office of the Speaker without advertisements and interviews being
conducted.
3. That councillors be encouraged to disseminate the employment policy of the
Municipality to its constituencies.
Meanwhile, MEC Yawa has recommended that councillors convene Ward Committee
meetings in order to report-back to communities on the findings and
recommendations of the report.
"We appeal to communities in Maquassi Hills Local Municipality to give the
municipality space to strengthen public participation and stakeholder
involvement in its affairs and to support implementation of the recommendations
tabled .For our part, we stand by our commitment to support the process towards
a Youth Development Summit in order to improve employment prospects for the
unemployed in the area .We will continue to monitor and give technical support
to the municipality so that our plan to make local government work better is
implemented in partnership with our communities," said Yawa.
The Municipality is expected to submit a detailed plan of action to
implement the recommendations tabled for consideration by MEC for Developmental
Government and Housing within the next two weeks.
For further information contact:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 018 387 3814
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail:LKgwele@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, North
West Provincial Government
10 July 2007
