NEWCASTLE – The final meeting of the Newcastle Local Council was far from a celebratory affair.
Welcoming a new councillor into the fold and a view of the Christmas holidays did little to ease the tension, given the troubling financial state of finances.
Read: District Council meeting concludes smoothly
In the words of Speaker, Jabu Khumalo, it had been a long year.
Once the final council meeting was declared open, the vacancy of Ward Six Councillor was filled by Siphosakhe Zulu, who was sworn in by legal representative, Kamlesh Gurlal.
Cllr Zulu was required to swear an oath, to perform to the best of his ability.
After confirming the municipal offices would be closed from December 28 until January 3, Cllr Khumalo used the opportunity of her unopposed proposals to congratulate officials on improving the audit outcome to unqualified.
She allowed Mayor, Makhosini Nkosi to speak on this matter.
Cllr Nkosi first acknowledged the presence of Dr Imran Keeka, a Democratic Alliance Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) in the guest seats.
“We welcome Dr Keeka especially given the good news, which is that for 2015/2016, we have achieved an unqualified audit. This has evaded us for five years.”
Related article: Exco meeting called off
However, Cllr Nkosi also made his annoyance heard, regarding recent comments and statements given to the media by Dr Keeka.
This seemed to heighten the tension in the room.
Highlights from the final council included the nomination of councillors from each political party, to join a street naming committee.
It was not specified what precise role this committee is to serve.
Moving ahead to the confirmation of minutes from the previous council meeting, Cllr Khumalo said there was a request to host a special council meeting in 2016.
However, time spent on the adjustment budget had made this impossible.
According to Cllr Khumalo, there would be a special meeting in the New Year to discuss the financial analysis and the adjustment budget.
These topics were the cause of continued tension among councillors.
At the end of the meeting, Cllr Koos Vorster stated in 13 years of council he had never seen the agenda in ‘such a shambles’, referring to the agenda not reaching councillors due to sensitive content.
This resulted in ‘agenda structure’ being added to the proposed special meeting.
And so ended the year for the local council, and officials might not rest easy given the burning matter of the unfunded budget and financial woes on the horizon for 2017.
Also read: First meeting descends into chaos
