In his response, Council Speaker, S Mdluli, said it ‘appeared as if Mrs Mbatha and the Aggrieved Committee had on board with them a very informed person whose agenda was perhaps questionable.’
“Many of these points are fabrication and show that there is an agenda behind the allegations. For starters, we have received Councillor Mbatha’s motions and these are up for discussion at the next Council meeting.
“Regarding allegations of illegally hiking salaries and changing contracts: we discussed this at Council and it was agreed that the municipal manager liaise with the Department of Co-operative Governance, COGTA, for guidance. We were told we could include a 20% rural allowance on these salaries and the five-year contract was also in line. These matters are to be discussed at the next Council meeting – so Council Mbatha has jumped the gun.
“Mr Zulu was seconded to us via Umzinyathi District Municipality after the municipality was left in tatters following Mr Biyela’s reign. He is no longer a member of the Regional Executive Committee of the ANC and was not a member of the REC when he was seconded.”
Asked about the allegations regarding financial mismanagement, Speaker Mdluli said he found this strange as Council had received an unqualified audit.
“The Auditor General did bring up some issues which we are attending to. We are one step away from a clean audit and judging from where we came from, this is commendable. Councillor Mbatha should be aware of this.”
Theft of electricity
Turning to the theft of electricity, he said Council had hired a team of electrical auditors to check all meters in town.
“An amnesty period was offered and this has now ended. People have come in to declare that they were tampering and payments have been received. We know this is a huge problem and we are tackling it.
“We have had road shows to bring to the public’s attention the problem of power theft and to encourage them to desist from doing this.”
He agreed that the water cuts were impacting on the town and that Endumeni was working closely with Umzinyathi to ensure affected communities are given water tankers. “The reservoirs are below 35% and we are all praying for rain.”
Arbitration
Regarding the arbitration court, Speaker Mdluli said the decisions made by the Bargaining Council were being contested by Endumeni at the Labour Court.
“We only paid one person out – a person who was desperate and who settled with us as he indicated he had no intention of returning to Endumeni.
“The other cases we are contesting. On our municipal organogram there is no such post as Local Economic Development and Integrated Developmental Plan manager – so will fight this matter to save ratepayers money.”
On the issue of the out-of-date website, he said the previously responsible incumbent had resigned and a vacancy had been advertised to fill the position.
Criticism of the handing out of Christmas hampers to needy people in all wards – a programme overseen by the Mayor – is unjustified, he said.
“It is annual event. This year we did not have a Council Christmas party and put that saving towards this programme. In 2013, Council spent R36 000 on a Christmas party which many people did not attend and there are still questions regarding what happened to the refreshments.
“To probe spending money on the needy but to approve expensive parties shows that there is a hidden agenda here.”