The JB Marks municipality is not off the hook yet despite rejecting the provincial government’s decision to put the ailing municipality under administration.
The office of the NW premier spokesperson, Vuyisile Ngesi says as things stand, the decision of the provincial executive council to put the municipality under administration still stands, however, the implementation of that Section 139 (1)(b) has been put on hold until the joint technical team of officials report back to premier Job Mokgoro.
“We will then communicate whatever the decision is at the time. Secondly, there are procedural and substantive service delivery issues that the JB Marks Local Municipality has raised. The team will be looking into those matters. At the moment, I am not at liberty to divulge those matters until the process is concluded,” he said.
In previous reports it was revealed that the provincial government has sent a letter to the mayor of the JB Marks municipality, Kgotso Khumalo notifying him that the municipality will be placed under administration with immediate effect.
Evident signs of poor administration and governance
According to the letter that the Herald has seen, the decision was made by the provincial executive council during a special sitting on 2 May.
“The department of local government and human settlement has identified areas in the municipality where there is a need to intervene, as there are evident signs of poor administration and governance which negatively affect service delivery,” the letter reads.
Various issues in terms of service delivery, leadership, finances and the unrest in the municipality were cited by the MEC as reasons why an intervention is necessary.
At that time Khumalo indicated that all the issues raised by the MEC have been raised before and have been dealt with.
He stated that the notice was procedurally flawed. According to him, the municipality was never given a chance to state its case to the department before a decision was made.
Since then, the executive mayor, the NW premier, the MEC for local government and human settlements, Motlalepula Rosho, as well as senior government and municipal officials, engaged in a discussion to find common ground.
“The meeting established a joint technical team of officials from the Department of Local Government and Human Settlements and those from the JB Marks Local Municipality; who will in the course of the next two weeks report to the Premier on the course of intervention to be collaboratively implemented between provincial government and municipality.
“Premier Mokgoro reiterated the commitment of the provincial government to ensure that any decision taken on JB Marks is substantially fair and procedural. The provincial government considers the JB Marks Local Municipality as a critical municipality whose performance should be protected and improved as has been the case in recent years,” said Ngesi.
