Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Arista Annandale.
The DA in Mahikeng Local Municipality will, through its Member of the North West Provincial Legislature, Freddy Sonakile, write to the MEC of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA), Nono Maloyi, requesting him to urgently intervene in the senseless delay of appointing a Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Senior Managers for Public Safety, Corporate Support Services, Socio-Economic Development and Acting Senior Manager for Planning and Development.
Yet another attempt to fill these positions failed during a Council meeting on Friday. Once again, the appointments for the positions of Senior Manager for Public Safety, Corporate Support Services, Socio-Economic Development and the acting Senior Manager for Planning and Development were deferred.
It seems that the dominant ANC faction is hellbent on having its preferred candidates appointed. Mahikeng Mayor, Tshepiso Mphehlo, conveniently ‘corrected’ the list of recommended candidates for the positions of acting CFO and Senior Manager for Planning and Development as he presented the items to Council.
The position of CFO has been vacant since October 2023, despite the post being advertised in July 2023. Clearly, the process to appoint a CFO was finalised, but the ANC could not agree on a candidate and therefore the post will be re-advertised, resulting in unnecessary costs.
The preferred candidate for acting Senior Manager for Planning and Development could not be appointed, as his “CV was outdated”. An updated CV is expected in the next Special Council meeting after which this person will likely be appointed.
Mahikeng residents continue to bear the brunt of this ANC factional infighting as service delivery continues to deteriorate. Once again, the personal interests of ANC cadres are more important than delivering clean water, proper sanitation and other basic services.
The DA has already succeeded at the Constitutional Court in forcing the ANC to hand over its cadre deployment records which have led to state capture, robbing all South Africans of the services they are entitled to. We also expect judgement today to have cadre deployment declared unconstitutional. We will continue to fight the scourge of ANC cadre deployment at every turn.