Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbite in English by Freddy Sonakile MPL.
The DA in North West notes the decision by the North West Provincial Executive Council to proceed with the proposed dissolution of the Ditsobotla Local Municipality under Section 139(1)(c).
The fact that this drastic proposal comes less than a year after the local government elections, is an indication that the ANC government has no plan to deal with municipalities failing to deliver basic services. The decision to resort to such a drastic constitutional measure says a lot about the ANC and its inability to discipline its members.
It is common knowledge that there is a dispute between elected ANC Councillors in Ditsobotla and its provincial leadership. Moreover, the ANC Ditsobotla Caucus itself is fraught with factionalism and infighting for positions and control over the municipal finances and tender allocations.
Ditsobotla does require urgent intervention to restore governance and service delivery, but a blanket dissolution where ANC will field the same candidates will be a waste of time and resources.
The Provincial Executive must now report on all intervention measures that they invoked in Ditsobotla, as the situation deteriorated under their view, with some of them involved in the Ditsobotla debacle.
They must also explain if constitutional provisions such as Section 139 (5)(a) empowering Provincial Treasury to take full control over the municipality’s finances and implement a recovery plan as well as Section 139(7) which would see National Treasury intervention, had failed for them to resort to dissolving the municipality.
The ANC in Ditsobotla has proven that they do not care about the people who struggle every day with basic service delivery issues such as the lack of water and electricity supply, poor roads, overflowing sewage, increasing unemployment, and rising poverty.
The DA will be closely monitoring this pronouncement and if it succeeds, it will be an opportune moment for the residents of Ditsobotla to place their interests first and vote the DA. It is no longer a hidden secret that the ANC is a wrecking ball.