PREVIEW: MEC puts AbaQulusi Municipality under administration

See Thursday’s edition of the Vryheid Herald newspaper to read the full story, including views from AfriForum, Ratepayers Association, SANCO, the Mayor of AbaQulusi, the municipal manager, the DA leadership and the ANC spokesperson.

KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Cogta (Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs), Nomusa Dube-Ncube, placed AbaQulusi Municipality under administration this week, citing several reasons she felt this drastic action is required.

While some welcome this intervention from provincial government saying they hope it will bring an end to alleged rampant mismanagement and nepotism, others remain sceptical, wondering if this is just a political game set in motion by the ANC in order to discredit the IFP run municipality just ahead of the national elections.

The reasons Mrs Dube-Ncube cited for the intervention included:

• Continuing with a council meeting, despite not having a quorum (According to legal opinion obtained by the municipality the meeting in question did have quorum if the quorum is calculated according to how many members currently make up the council, instead of how many members should make up the council discounting any resignations),
• The implementation of decisions taken at the meeting, which she deemed to be illegal,
• Failure of the municipality to implement the tariff policy,
• Failure of the council to exercise oversight on revenue collection and management of grants,
• Performing and incurring costs for water provision without a written agreement with the Water Services Authority (WSA), i.e. Zululand District Municipality,
• The provision of security services to members of council and administration without conducting threat and risk assessments,
• Failure to take reasonable steps to prevent R108.46 million in unauthorised expenditure and R41.86 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure,
• Failure to investigate unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure,
• Failure to investigate the appointment of Director of Community Services and lodge a criminal complaint with SAPS in this regard,
• And the failure of the council to investigate allegations of nepotism against the speaker.

“The deteriorating state of governance and financial management at AbaQulusi has left us with no option but to take over some powers in this municipality until we restore full functionality to its governance and administrative structures. The AbaQulusi council and administration have, to date, not been able to rescue the municipality from financial distress, governance and organisational challenges which are negatively impacting on service delivery,” said Mrs Dube-Ncube.

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“We are concerned about the Council ignoring serious allegations of interference in the administrative affairs by political office bearers, as alleged with an intention to influence the recruitment process in favour of relatives. It is also deeply worrying to observe that this municipality has continuously implemented illegal decisions taken at unlawful meetings and the risk of exposure to serious financial and governance obligations as a result thereof.

“AbaQulusi municipality has to learn that its resources do not exist to sustain a narrow clique of influential councillors, who made a mockery of proper and transparent governance. In recent weeks, we were left dumb-founded to witness that the challenges in this municipality have spilled over to the community and are leading to violence and tensions, such as the one in Mondlo community. We have stepped in to ensure that the residents of AbaQulusi come first now and in the future.”

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