NEWCASTLE municipality has been denied full time office bearers.
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube reportedly turned down the application for Executive Committee (Exco) members, the Chief Whip and the Municipal Public Accounts Committee chairman to be employed on a full time basis.
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Mayor, Makhosini Nkosi confirmed this was indeed the case.
Cllr Nkosi explained council made a resolution at the beginning of the new term regarding the full time positions, and was required to seek permission from MEC Dube-Ncube in this regard.
“She reviewed our finances, and felt we could not afford it, given the dire financial situation.”
Exco member, Bebsie Cronje spoke on behalf of the Democratic Alliance, saying the salaries of full time councillors now had to be adjusted.
In her words, the inevitable had finally happened.
“It’s a sad day. We have warned the municipality about this for years. The ANC has been blinded by the majority rules attitude, which has led it to oppose anything from the DA.”
Cllr Cronje said many of her fellow Exco members had expressed shock at the bleak financial state of the municipality.
However, members are said to receive the financial reports regularly.
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The MEC herself was to address the Exco about the full time positions in a meeting on Thursday, ahead of a discussion with Cllr Nkosi on Friday, about Newcastle’s financial position.
An Exco meeting last week on municipal finances went in-committee.
