on Oudtshoorn Municipality on the path to recovery
17 September 2007
The provincial cabinet of the Western Cape resolved recently to allow the
intervention in the Oudtshoorn Municipality in terms of section 139 of the
Constitution to run its course on 18 September 2007. The result of this will be
that the Council of the Municipality and its Municipal Manager will from 19
September 2007 once again be empowered to fulfil their duties and
responsibilities as envisaged in the Constitution and other legislation. This
decision is made possible by the relative political and administrative
stability that is evident in the municipality after the provincial government
intervened and the administrator, Mr Louis Scheepers, commenced with his
duties.
In terms of the decision by the Provincial Cabinet, the Municipality and the
MEC for Local Government and Housing, Qubudile Richard Dyantyi, must conclude
an agreement through which the Department of Local Government and Housing
continues to provide comprehensive, hands-on support to the Municipality.
It is envisaged that the support by the department to the municipality will
include making available to the municipality a person with the requisite
skills, knowledge and experience to assist the municipality in implementing its
recovery programme.
The period of comprehensive hands-on support will be for a period of six
months, commencing on 1 October 2007 to 31 March 2008. A monthly report will be
submitted to the Cabinet via the MEC, detailing progress with the recovery of
the municipality. The provincial cabinet noted that a municipal manager was
appointed for the Oudtshoorn Municipality and that the incumbent, Reverent Noël
Pietersen, assumed service on 13 August 2007. A new manager for corporate
services, Mr Thembani Gutas, also assumed service on 3 September 2007.
The Oudtshoorn Municipality and Eden District Municipality is in the process
of discussing the secondment of a senior official from Eden to Oudtshoorn and
for this official to be appointed as acting chief finance officer. A range of
strategic partnerships was forged around the recovery process in the Oudtshoorn
Municipality. I would like to acknowledge these partnerships and thank those
involved in the recovery of the municipality. These are:
* Select Committee on Local Government (National Council of Provinces)
* Standing Committee on Governance (Western Cape Provincial Legislature)
* Provincial Treasury
* Eden District Municipality
* Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
* Ilima Trust.
The administrator, together with other role-players in the municipality,
developed a recovery programme for the municipality. This programme is based on
the information gathered in the S106 investigation that preceded the
intervention, the diagnostic exercise performed in the initial stages of the
intervention as well as internal consultation with councillors and officials.
The recovery program is structured along the same lines as the national
strategic agenda for the 2006 to 2011 term of local government.
The recovery programme is premised on the reality that recovery of the
municipality is a medium to long term endeavour. Short-term actions and
activities must therefore be aligned to the medium to long-term
objectives.
A further premise of the recovery program is that developmental local
government, i.e. local government that is committed to working with its
citizens and groups within its community to find sustainable ways to meet their
social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives,
must be built on good quality and strategic political leadership and policy
direction, as well as sound administrative systems, processes and
procedures.
"In conclusion, I would like to once again reiterate my commitment to my
dual roles of monitoring and supporting local government in the province. It is
only when we have municipalities that are able to deliver on their
developmental and service delivery mandates that we will be able to make a
better life possible and build the Western Cape as a home for all.
Constitutional and legislative compliance is the foundation on which
developmental local government is built", Says MEC Dyantyi.
Media enquiries:
Vusi Tshose
Media Liaison Officer
Tel: 021 483 4466
Fax: 021 483 4953
Cell: 083 581 5265
E-mail: vtshose@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Western Cape
Provincial Government
17 September 2007
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za)
