Maile concerned over service delivery as Tshwane top political positions vacant
Gauteng Cogta MEC Lebogang Maile has given mayors until Friday to indicate when they will appoint mayoral committees which have not been appointed due to continuing coalition government talks amongst parties.
The provincial government has raised concerns over service delivery as the Tshwane mayoral committee positions remained vacant. Co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC, Lebogang Maile, said he has written a letter to Tshwane mayor, Randall Williams, as well as the mayors of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
It has been over a month since the local government elections, but mayoral committee members have not yet been appointed due to continuing coalition talks among political parties.
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Mayoral committees carry the responsibility of ensuring service delivery and provide oversight on the various municipal departments. “The current mayors were elected almost three weeks ago, and MMCs have still not been appointed. This is quite a long time and can without doubt lead to instability or compromise the provision of basic services to the inhabitants of the affected municipalities,” Maile said.
The mayors have until Friday, to indicate when the committees would be elected, Maile said. “MEC Maile views the delay by the mayors to appoint their mayoral committees in a very serious light with far-reaching ramifications on both the integrity and governance of the municipality,” Cogta spokesperson Castro Ngobese said.
“The mayor is compelled to appoint a mayoral committee to assist to ensure effective and efficient government.” The last time Maile intervened in the Tshwane metro, the council was placed under administration in March 2020. This left 214 councillors out of jobs for seven months. That decision was ruled unlawful by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria and the Constitutional Court. This week another multi-party meeting consisting of the DA, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, Cope and ACDP was held. While political parties remain silent on the coalition talks, Rekord understands that the mayoral committee in Tshwane was likely to be announced next week, as the parties were close to reaching a decision after a month of negotiations.
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