Political parties represented in the Lekwa council strongly condemned the recent protest actions of municipal workers.
The Civic Voice, who has three councillors debating issues, questioned the motives of the South Municipal Workers Union.
“It was not an honest strike,” Mr Nicholas Selepe said on Thursday, 13 August.
The union went on a rampage in town and scenes of burning tyres, overthrown dustbins, toy-toying were the norm.
They demanded an increment of 6,25 per cent.
Lekwa Municipality indicated that a directive from national treasury said payments should not be done until further notice.
An article on the arrest of Mr Vusi Dlamini, a Lekwa-employee, in connection with contravention of the Disaster Management Act of 2000, is elsewhere in the newspaper.
The community of Standerton had to bite the bullet as regards to service delivery and electricity interruptions, as well as intermittent water supply.
The Standerton Advertiser covered the events extensively in its printed issue as well as on the web site, taking note of role players trying their utmost to help with basic services. According to Mr Selepe, the municipality has applied for an interdict against those employees preventing their co-workers from going to work.
The DA in Standerton and Morgenzon called for urgent intervention in the strikes, discouraging any forms of breaking the law through their councillors, Mr Muso Kubheka and Ms Sithi Silosini.
Money-wise, an estimated figure of R3-million for monthly overtime payments are alleged.
Mr Selepe also said the party has requested information on the number of bodyguards for the mayor, Mr Linda Dhlamini.
According to him, the mayor has five bodyguards and the speaker, Ms Makhosazana Khota, also has bodyguards.
He added that only two bodyguards are allowed and that a risk assessment is required to employ more.
Both these individuals were the centre of controversy after prolonged political machinations to remove them from office.
Meetings between the municipal manager, Ms Gugulethu Mhlongo-Ntshangase, and the Lekwa Local Forum allegedly do not take place.
The Section-106 report furthermore, in which a forensic investigation was done on the municipality, has been presented to council.
Mr Mandla Msibi, MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) did the honours of handing it over to the local council.
Thereby hangs a tale.
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 fulfil 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.
Such an investigation was requested in council in 2018 to investigate allegations of maladministration and corruption.
According to Mr Selepe, the report was sent back to the administration for recommendations.
The FF Plus recently issued a press release on the subject, saying it indicates, among other things, that irregular, fruitless, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure took place since 2012.
According to the FF, the provincial government should have acted and already taken drastic steps in 2018 to immediately put an end to the financial mismanagement.
The Standerton Advertiser sent a WhatsApp-message to the communications manager of the municipality, Ms Thobeka Mtshiselwa, on Saturday, 14 August for official comment on the current situation.
Readers will be updated as soon as a response is received.
