Not to get embroiled in legal matters that might prove a slippery slope, a forensic investigation was conducted about the Lekwa Municipality, but has not seen the light of day.
Section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act states that if an MEC has reason to believe that a municipality in the province cannot or does not fulfill a statutory obligation binding on that municipality, or that maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice has occurred, or is occurring in a municipality in a province, the MEC must:
• by written notice to the municipality, request the municipal council or municipal manager to provide the MEC with information required in the notice; or
• if the MEC considers it necessary, designate a person or persons to investigate the matter.
The Standerton Advertiser was again informed last week that such an investigation was requested in council in 2018 to investigate allegations of maladministration and corruption.
According to Ms Sithi Silosini, PR-councillor of the DA, the investigation was concluded and the report should have been tabled in council.
Ms Silosini said the DA has written to the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Mr Mandla Msibi, last year, requesting the document.
“Mr Msibi promised to furnish it in January, but failed to do so,” she also said.
According to her, another request was made and he said he was unable due to the lockdown.
She added that Mr Msibi confirmed in a virtual sitting last month that the report was at his office and would be submitted to council. but it did not materialise.
“If he fails to hand over the report, we will have no choice but to rely on the Promotion of Access to Information Act,” Ms Silosini concluded.
“It is totally unacceptable that it has never come back to council like it should have.”
Mr Ashwin Jermain Reynecke, law student at the University of the Western Cape, did a research paper on the Municipal Systems Act as partial fulfillment of his LLM.
In his conclusion, Mr Reynecke states that corruption and maladministration may have serious consequences for social delivery and will eventually directly affect the lives of the poor.
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