I wish to respond to Refentse Mangope’s letter entitled Mogale City is in chaos, which appeared in the 3 February edition of the News.
Mr Mangope suggests that the “city has collapsed.” I question his perspective since water, electricity and other services are still being provided. Residents can go into the billing hall and pay their bills. Councillors are interacting with residents and driving queries as quickly as the officials can resolve them. Grass is being cut and potholes filled, albeit at a relatively slow rate.
Mangope also raises questions about the meetings of the Mayoral Committee, financial reporting and interaction with the public in terms of the Integrated Development Plan. I can assure Mangope that all these issues are enjoying attention and that the council has not defaulted on any legislative requirements.
In questioning “whether our people are safe under the current political administration” and saying that he “will not judge on (sic) what led to the collapse”, I believe that Mangope is being less than honest. I say this because Mangope’s input is dripping with innuendo as he is obviously aware of how we have come to the situation [in which we find ourselves].
The facts are that the ANC has not been able to accept the democratic will of the people and has launched a sustained campaign of destabilisation against the council. Under normal conditions, at the beginning of a term, the politicians and officials agree to a plan of action and the officials implement the plan. This has been impossible as a result of the unwillingness of the ANC’s officials to co-operate. In terms of the code of conduct of politicians, councillors may not interfere in the work of officials and give ad hoc instructions.
This untenable situation will be resolved once the hostile ANC officials are moved out of the system when their contracts come to an end. In addition, once a new Municipal Manager takes control of the administration, errant officials who refuse to co-operate can be disciplined in terms of standard labour laws and policies.
If anybody is to be blamed for tardy service delivery, the ANC must accept culpability.
