The DA has accused the ANC-led coalition government in Ekurhuleni of having total disregard for the separation of powers model.
This follows complaints by the party that the EMM has deliberately delayed the appointment of the municipality city manager.
The separation of powers allows oversight committees to discuss issues before they are sent to council for more deliberations and to be passed.
As a result, the DA feels this is delaying the appointment of the new city manager.
The DA’s representatives on the Corporate and Shared Services oversight committee are unhappy that at the council meeting on October 26, the ANC and its coalition partners tried to force through two items without following proper procedures.
The DA claims these items were brought to council without appearing before the committee.
Clr Shaune Le Roux, the DA’s Shadow MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, said this is in contravention of the separation of power model that the council adopted.
“It is denying the opposition parties the opportunity to properly interrogate items and submit dissenting views where consensus cannot be reached,” said Clr Le Roux.
He said that during the September council meeting, councillors discussed an item requesting permission to establish a committee that would appoint a new city manager.
“The item was forced through council by the ANC-led coalition. The item spoke to a list of names of the people to sit on the committee, responsible for appointing the new city manager. This included one non-public representative or EMM employee as an additional member, as well as the time frame within which the recruitment and selection process was to happen,” he said.
He said the DA was not afforded the opportunity to nominate its preferred candidate, or interrogate how the additional member was appointed, and what advertising, if any, for this paid position was done, nor could it scrutinise the time frames in the item.
“As a result of this failure to follow procedure, in the October council meeting, this item was brought back to council. This time calling for the changing of the time frames as the committee was unable to meet its planned targets,”said Clr Le Roux.
The DA wants answers to what matrix was applied when shortlisting candidates.
“The party will scrutinise these appointments. We will investigate all candidates that are put through so that we know what qualifications they have for the job. The DA believes that the best person for the job should be appointed, it is important that any person fit for purpose is appointed,” said Clr Le Roux.
The Tembisan sent a request for comment to mayoral spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini on November 3 and requested comment by November 4 at 9am. No comment has been received.