Despite protests from the IFP and its coalition partners, the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) claims its intervention at the Nquthu and Umzinyathi District municipality ‘is yielding positive results by unlocking service delivery and restoring normality to these previously paralysed municipal councils.’
“Within days of placing these two municipalities under administration, we have managed to ensure that municipal workers have come back to work and the councils have complied with the requirements set out by the Auditor-General’s office and even responded to disasters,” said KZN MEC for Cogta Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
The interventions in Nquthu Municipality in terms of section 139(1)b of the Constitution were approved by the provincial executive council last month when inter- and inter-political party infighting complicated by continuous court interdicts at Nquthu prevented reconstitution of this council following the 2016 local government elections, with a knock-on effect on Umzinyathi district.
The intervention last week sparked a protest march that saw hundreds of IFP members take to the streets, accusing the ANC of using Cogta to ‘capture Nquthu’ from the IFP/EFF/DA coalition.
But MEC Dube-Ncube has stood her ground, saying “as a result of the paralysis, neither municipal council was able to take decisions or provide oversight over its respective municipal administration. This is now a thing of the past as our administrators are ensuring that all executive functions of these municipalities are carried out as necessary.” KZN Cogta maintains that executive decisions about interventions in municipalities are never taken lightly but only as a last resort when all else fails. The department insists that all interventions are aimed at restoring order and functionality to the affected municipalities.
MEC Dube-Ncube has assured the residents of Nquthu and the entire Umzinyathi that delivery of services to the community is going now a priority.
“We now appeal to the residents of Nquthu and Umzinyathi to work with the municipal administrators and alert them to any service delivery need so that there can be a speedy response. We need to have quick turn-around times and work in a business-as-usual manner. The interventions will ensure that staff is doing what they are employed to do on time and are responsive to the needs of communities,” the MEC concluded.