Muni manager suspended

THE municipal manager of Mopani District Municipality was suspended following an urgent special council meeting last Thursday.

The decision to suspend Tim Maake came after a series of negative audit opinions resulting from poor financial management.

According to municipal spokesperson Tumelo Malaka, the decision by the council to suspend Maake was unanimous and the council applied the Local Government Disciplinary Procedures Act of 2010 for Senior Managers to affect the suspension.

“Council holds a view that some sections of the Local Government’s Municipal Finance Management Act, 56 of 2003, have been contravened,” he said.

“Given this decision, the municipality has decided to allow legal processes, as anticipated, to unfold and will not be in a position to comment further on the matter except to confirm that indeed the suspension has taken place,” he concluded.

South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) regional secretary in Mopani, Cromwell Nhemo, welcomed the decision by the council to suspend Maake, saying it was long overdue.

“We hope that the person they put in charge now will be able to revive the municipality and bridge the gap between the employer and the workers,” he added.

Even though Maake had been suspended, Samwu still wanted the district to be put under administration.

“The situation is so bad that we feel the national administration should take over to speed up the recovery process.

The municipality has totally collapsed in terms of services,” Nhemo said.

Problems regarding the municipality’s financial management were already noted in 2012.

A national treasury report on Mopani District Municipality in 2012, confirmed by treasury spokesperson Jabulane Sikhakhane, showed that a R210 million conditional grant allocated to the municipality could not be accounted for.

Meanwhile, the municipality’s director of water services, Tivonali Ralulimi, has been appointed as acting municipal manager, and a forensic audit into the municipality’s finances is being done.