Only one administrator left at Tshwane metro as councillors take office again

Until Tshwane metro council appointed a permanent city manager, the acting city manager Mmaseabata Mutlaneng who was part of the administration team, would remain in her position.

Tshwane metro mayor Randall Williams said this was due to a binding contract which stipulated that Mutlaneng could only be ousted after council had appointed a permanent city manager.

On Friday, the council was supposed to appoint a new mayor, however, this was scrapped due to a fine print in her contract.

“On Friday, the council had a second agenda which was to appoint a city manager but she then produced a contract stating that she is the city manager until a permanent city council is appointed – its an open-ended contract,” he said.

“We need a majority vote in council to appoint a city manager. As it stands we are a minority government so we will need an agreement with one of the other parties, EFF or the ANC in order to appoint a new city manager.’’

Williams said co-operation as council resumed office was key to a stable leadership and decision-making such as the appointment of a city manager.

“For us to govern the metro, we the DA need to have very good relations with the other parties,” he said.

“We will have to co-operate with one another but there has to be a lot of consultation so that we are in agreement before the report is tabled at the council.

“That will avoid the type of interactions you would see at the council in the past. You need agreement beforehand and it will require a lot of diplomacies,” he said.

Mutlaneng confirmed to Rekord on Tuesday that she was still the acting city manager, however, she did not know when her contract might be terminated.

“The termination period has not yet been communicated with me yet, it’s council matters and I will only be briefed once decisions are taken but at this point, I still serve as the city manager.’’

The mayor and Mutlaneng were expected to discuss the matter, however, there was no timeline of when a new city manager would be appointed as of Tuesday.

Gauteng local government MEC Lebogang Maile said the council needed to follow procedure before ousting Mutlaneng.

Maile said he was happy about council’s last meeting on Friday, as political parties had co-operated and there was no chaos compared to previous council meeting before the dissolution.

“If we had not intervened they would be doing the things they used to do but now they understand they are councillors. They know that there is a provincial government, if they are out of order they know we will attend to them,” he said.

“The dissolution has helped them because there is dignity at that council and that is what we want, we do not want to run a municipality. We want councillors to treat each other with respect.

“They need to work together. Disagree, but with respect and resolve matters so they can serve the people of Tshwane,” he said.

A Supreme Court of Appeals judgment handed down last week, saw the reinstatement of councillors after almost eight months under the leadership of administrators.