A marathon Endumeni Council meeting took landmark decisions to put the troubled municipality back on track, but not without leaving blood on the floor.
The meeting, which started at midday on Thursday, continued until after sunset.
The blood-letting came in the form of ‘letting those go’ who were appointed after the infamous September 25 Council meeting, which was found to have been unquorated and illegal.
That was the meeting that saw the upliftment of the suspension of Municipal Manager TP Biyela.
Also affected are municipal employees who were promoted during this time.
Acting managers who received a 35% acting allowance instead of the legal 8% will have to cough up.
Speaker Sduduzo Mdluli was not in the mood to entertain any more stumbling blocks, which have devilled the municipality in recent months.
Questions over the passing of minutes dating back to 2013 resulted in Councillors Mbatha (junior) and Mkhize attempting to re-open the debate regarding the decision to declare the September meeting illegal. However, Councillor Dlamini and others brushed this aside.
While most motions were passed, there were some that stuck out like sore thumbs. For instance, the spending of over R200 000 on the local government games in December. Some officials were even paid bonuses for attending the games. It was said that officials earning over a certain threshold do not qualify for such bonuses, travelling allowances or overtime. This is to be investigated.
The passing of the adjustment budget ended in a long caucus meeting called by Mayor Thulani Mahaye. Councillor Anthon Raubenheimer was not happy to pass the budget ‘as is’, as he was concerned that this would give carte blanche to any fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by the Council since September 25.
After a lengthy discussion the budget was passed, with the clear proviso that ‘its passing does not condone any fruitless expenditure’.
Another controversial issue was around a municipal supervisor who elicits R500 bribes from temporary municipal workers who are then made permanent employees.
An angry Speaker Mdluli said he had ‘solid proof’ of this, and urged that an investigation be conducted and that the official be charged.
He was also not happy that not all Council resolutions are implemented by officials.
There were questions over R285 000 spent on upgrading the financial computer system, which had been on the verge of a total breakdown. The expenditure was condoned under Section 36, which means officials can spend money without the authority of the Council as long as the expenditure is ‘urgent’.
Councillor Essop Adam questioned if prior maintenance would have prevented such a possible breakdown.
He was also unhappy that Council had not been informed of the situation earlier.
Speaker Mdluli again expressed his concern over the R29-million theft of electricity from the municipal power grid, saying that this was impacting on Council’s ability to implement service delivery.
Decisions taken at the meeting – those pertaining to staff were deliberated in committee – are bound to cause an outcry in some municipal circles.