North West Provincial Executive Council places Madibeng under administration
The North West Provincial Executive Council (Exco) has placed Madibeng Local Municipality which had been experiencing several service delivery protests in Mothotlung, Majakaneng and Hebron under provincial administration, Premier Thandi Modise announced on Monday.
Premier Modise said that the decision to take responsibility of all executive powers of Madibeng council was taken after an assessment determined that the embattled municipality was dysfunctional.
Modise said that the council had failed to fulfil its legislative and executive obligations in terms of the law by not reining in office bearers and or senior management to fulfil what is required in terms of local government legislation.
“The provincial executive council has assumed the executive obligations and responsibilities as mandated to the Municipal Manager by Section 55 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000 as well as the powers and functions allocated to the Executive Mayor in terms of section 56 of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act and vests same in the administrator,” Premier said.
In terms of Section 139(1) (b) invoked in the municipality, the council will only exercise its powers in relation to adoption of the annual Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget, adoption of by-laws and policies and any other matter that might be introduced by the administrator in consultation with the provincial government (Exco)
Blake Mosley-Lefatola the appointed Administrator who is a former Head of Department for the North West Provincial Department of Local Government & Housing (1996-2003), former City Manager of Tshwane and also served as a Commissioner of the Fiscal and Finance Committee has as terms of his appointment the responsibility to:
- Appoint an Acting Municipal Manager outside the current municipal personnel with immediate effect
- Implement the recommendation of the minister’s reports, and previous administrator’s reports
- Improve service delivery in Madibeng, prioritising water and sanitation services( including facilitation of new projects, unblocking of old projects and maintenance of infrastructure and cleaning)
- Financial management ,improving the financial controls in the municipality, expenditure management, procurement processes, revenue enhancement and debt collection as well as addressing Auditor General’s reports and to ensure compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act .
- Analysis and implementation of recommendations of past and current investigations, commissions of enquiry and forensic audits, i.e. the Gobodo report, De Swart Vogel Myambo Attorneys report and current investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).This includes taking decisive action against implicated individuals.
- Attend to labour matters in the municipality such as outstanding disciplinary cases. labour disputes, functionality of Local Labour Forum, instil culture of work and discipline of workers
- Facilitate the improvement of governance within council
- Conclude the disciplinary case of the previously suspended and reinstated managers , i.e develop charges and commence with disciplinary processes
- Investigate all recently awarded contracts to establish validity and legitimacy thereof and terminate those that are not legitimate
- Ensure that criminal proceedings are finalised against any suspected officials or councillors and service providers implicated.
“We appeal to our communities to exercise restraint and not to disrupt the momentum of the intervention which is aimed at ridding Madibeng of fraud and corruption and turning it around so that delivery of services is accelerated,” highlighted Premier Modise.
She said that the period for the intervention will be for a minimum period of six months and a maximum of 12 months to ensure that there is total stability in the municipality, both at council and administration levels.
Mosley-Lefatola has strong leadership and managerial capabilities developed over a period of approximately 27 years working experience, sixteen years of which were gained in the public sector-specifically at the Provincial and Local Sphere of government and parastatals.
He had established an alternative service delivery model at the City of Tshwane and assisted in implementing a turnaround strategy for the Ekurhuleni municipality during 2009
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Spokesperson
Cell: 083 629 1987
Tel: 018 388 3705
Fax: 018 388 3157
Email: LKgwele@gmail.com
