Municipality
11 February 2009
North West MEC for Developmental Local Government and Housing, Howard Yawa
has urged Councillors of Greater Taung Local Municipality to honour the
institution and the people that have elected them by focusing on service
delivery and not on leadership squabbles and strive to serve their own
interests. At the conclusion of the six hour intervention meeting that he held
with the councillors at Taung Tusk on Wednesday, MEC Yawa announced the
reinstatement of the 10 councillors dismissed from the municipality on Friday,
6 February 2009.
The councillors were dismissed from council after resolving in a special
council meeting attended by 25 of the 44 councillors that constitute council to
place the Mayor and Speaker on special leave and electing new incumbents to act
in their positions.
In nullifying the dismissal of the councillors and the special leave granted
to the Mayor and Speaker, the MEC clarified that the special council meeting
had usurped powers to suspend and or dismiss councillors that are vested in him
and that the Independent Electoral Commission had also acted in haste by
proclaiming vacancies for by-elections to be held as the power to proclaim
vacancies and by-elections at municipal level are vested with the MEC
responsible for developmental local government.
The MEC has advised the municipality to convene a special council meeting on
Thursday to rescind the "special leave" for the Mayor and the Speaker as
special leaves are not applicable for elected public representatives. "Don't
start wrong when you intend to do right" commented Yawa.
Yawa gave an undertaking that his department will expedite the appointment
of an independent firm of attorneys to investigate the allegations of
corruption, irregularities in tender allocations, nepotism, irregular
appointment of staff, non-implementation of council resolutions and
incompetence levelled against the Mayor and the Speaker.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 018 387 3814
Fax: 018 384 5426
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: LKgwele@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, North
West Provincial Government
11 February 2009
