Tshwane ward committee members have been notified their membership was invalid because they had been elected unconstitutionally. The speaker of the Tshwane metro, Aubry Morakane Mosupyoe, Tuesday notified all unconstitutionally elected ward committee members about this.
Blessing Manale, spokesperson for Tshwane metro mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, confirmed these notices were mailed to everybody in one way or another involved with ward committees.
The Constitutional court upheld judge Fourie’s verdict on 12 November that the ward committee members’ elections had been unconstitutional. Earlier the metro had hoped the court would rule in its favour.
Judge Dawie Fourie’s order ruled the original mode of election was unlawful and unconstitutional. Despite this order, the city continued to pay ward committee members a monthly salary. The amount paid up to date was R 47 250 000.
According to the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFA) this amount will now have to be paid back.
Lex Middelberg, who initiated the first court case against the Tshwane metro’s illegally elected ward committee members, said the constitutional Court’s verdict is pointing the way to recoup the lost money.
“We are directing a letter to the auditor general informing him of the fact that the final appeal has failed. The auditor general declined to comment on judgement last year as the issue of the status of ward committee membership was still in the balance. Now the auditor general must express himself about the cost which have been incurred since January 2012, relating to the election cost and monthly amount of R1 000 per committee member which had been paid to committee members. This brings us to the total amount of R47 250,000 till the end of October 2014,” Middelberg said.
He remarked that the city will have to recover that money from committee members, and that is unlikely to happen, which means the money which cannot be recovered, will have to be recouped in terms of the MSA section 32 as unauthorised expenditure from the political office bearers. They are mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, the municipal manager and the accounting officer of the city, Jason Ngobeni and the speaker Aubry Mosupyoe.
Referring to the new bylaw regarding ward committees, Middleberg said the newly drafted bylaw which was to replace the one which has been found unconstitutional, has more flaws than the old one. “We have filed conscientious objections about the new proposed bylaw. The new proposed bylaw is more unconstitutional than the first in the sense that it contains more contestable clauses than the original bylaw. It has completely written out the role of the opposition in the election process.”
He said in terms of the new bylaws, elections will be run by a so-called independent election committee which will be appointed in the discretion of the speaker and the mayor alone. “That means the governing party will appoint an oversight body to oversee elections to ensure they are free, fair and constitutional. Our view on this matter is quite clear. Our argument is that a committee appointed entirely to the discretion of the speaker and the mayor (both from the governing party), will be just as objective or unobjective as the mayor and the speaker. It is also unconstitutional because in terms of our constitution, political parties have the right to participate on pro-rata basis. When election committees are formed, they must consist of all parties as they are represented in council,” he said.
Middleberg said the new proposed bylaw also omitted the role of ward councillors. “Ward councillors will no longer be entitled to participate and execute functions in their own ward. Instead of changing their ways and stopping the unlawful conduct, they try to hide it more effectively.”
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Also read: Council wants to go to court about ward verdict
