Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Arista Annandale.
The DA in the Mahikeng Local Municipality will, through its member in the North West Provincial Legislature, Freddy Sonakile MPL, write to the MEC of CoGHSTA, Nono Maloyi, requesting his intervention after Council once again failed to appoint senior managers.
During a Council meeting last week, only acting managers for Public Safety and Corporate were appointed. The DA objected to the incumbent for Public Safety, as he will now be acting for longer than 12 months, while the acting manager for Corporate will be going on for 6 months. According to the Systems Act, a period of acting stretching beyond 3 months, necessitates concurrence from the MEC. Evidence of such concurrence has never been presented to Council.
The senior manager for Planning and Development resigned in February this year and has not yet been replaced. Attempts to appoint an acting manager failed as the ANC disagreed on a candidate. Subsequently, the Municipal Manager (MM), Advocate Dineo Mongwaketse, oversees that directorate.
The DA previously raised its concerns about these appointments and the costs of continuously re-advertising every time the ANC cannot agree on a candidate. We therefore requested a report from the MM about the delay in appointing permanent managers as per the Auditor-General’s recommendation, but when the report was to be presented, we were promised that it would be an item on the next ordinary Council’s agenda in May.
It is clear that the ANC puts their own agenda before that of the people of Mahikeng to the extent that their infighting about appointments is crippling daily operations and displaying their aversion to accountability.
The DA will request the MEC to respond to this slackness within seven days to ensure that the municipality delivers the services residents are entitled to.
In 2024, communities will have an opportunity to get rid of the ANC and its greedy cadre deployment by voting for a party that will rescue South Africa from its grubby hands.
