Note to Editors: Find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Johannes le Grange.
The DA in the City of Matlosana has today tabled a Motion of No Confidence (MONC) in the Executive Mayor, Cllr James Tsolela, in the interest of residents who continue to suffer the burden of the ANC-led local government’s failed governance and almost non-existent service delivery.
The City of Matlosana is on the brink of total financial, governance and service delivery collapse, despite Council’s adoption of the DA’s financial recovery plan in March last year, Mayor Tsolela and his ANC administration have done nothing to turn the dire state of the municipality around.
Mayor Tsolela has failed to fulfil his obligations and responsibilities as defined in the Constitution, the Municipal Systems Act, Municipal Finance Management Act, and the Municipal Structures Act.
His list of transgressions is extensive even after only 16 months in office:
• The City of Matlosana incurred a financial loss of R621 million during the 2021/2022 financial year;
• Under his tenure, the municipality incurred the highest unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in North West to the total of R1,52 billion;
• Failure to implement the financial recovery plan adopted by Council on 3 March 2022;
• Recording the highest water losses in North West at 52% with a financial loss of R200 million;
• Incurring the highest electricity losses in North West at 38% with a financial loss of R322 million;
• Failure to ensure a functional Local Economic Development Department create a conducive environment for job creation and attracting investment into the City of Matlosana to reduce unemployment;
• Failure to correct the City of Matlosana’s municipal assessment rates, the highest in South Africa, to attract investment;
• Failure to implement a proper debt collection plan to recover R7,4 billion in outstanding household debt;
• Failure to effectively maintain municipal roads, and the failure to monitor and evaluate the performance of 16 pothole contractors who abandoned their projects less than a month after the appointment.
The final straw that motivates our MONC in Mayor Tsolela is the irregular appointment of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Ms Mercy Maebe Phetla, during a Special Council meeting in December 2022.
The DA questioned the CFO appointment due to a lack of information, specifically the curriculum vitae of the individual, documents of the interview panel and any detailed motivation by the panel for their recommendation. We also questioned the R127,000.00 spent on consultants during the recruitment process.
Mayor Tsolela defended the appointment and tried desperately to convince opposition Councillors that the correct processes were followed and that all qualifications, experience, and legislative requirements were met by Ms Phetla. The DA had its objection formally noted in Council and it was also resolved that a written report be submitted to COGSHTA MEC Nono Maloyi within 14 days.
MEC Maloyi responded to the City of Matlosana that the appointment of Ms Phetla to the position of CFO is not supported for failure to meet all minimum requirements as well as concerns over her dismissal from Pixley Ka Seme Local Municipality in the Northern Cape for dishonesty, which she disclosed in her application for the CFO position in Mamusa Local Municipality in January 2021. See letter here.
At least five years must expire before a senior manager is dismissed for gross misconduct before any new employment is considered in any municipality as per Schedule 2 under Section 57A of the Municipal Systems Act.
Mayor Tsolela wilfully withheld this crucial information from Council which means all contracts, appointments, and all payments made since Ms Phetla’s irregular appointment are now irregular and null and void.
Ms Phetla’s appointment must now be terminated and a new recruitment process in line with the legislative regulations must be initiated.
Clearly, Matlosana Mayor Tsolela has no clue what he is supposed to be doing and needs to go.
The DA will request an investigation into the entire recruitment process of Ms Phetla and that the R127,000.00 expenditure incurred for consultants by the selection panel be recovered.