ANC votes out Mpac chairperson during SOMA at Govan Mbeki Municipality
The notice states that the three failed to attend two council meetings dated April 13 and 28 of and have contributed to the function of oversight not being performed as that will lead to a dysfunctionality of council.
Three Govan Mbeki Municipality section 79 committee chairpersons, including the Municipal Public Account Committee chairperson, Ciska Jordaan, were voted out of their positions after the motion of no confidence against them was presented during the State of the Municipal Address on Tuesday, May 31.
The African National Congress won by 26 votes for their removal and Freedom Front Plus who was against the motion only clinched two votes, while the Economic Freedom Fighters, Azanian Residents Party and African Transformation Movement councillors abstained from voting.
The council chief whip, Joseph Mtsweni, submitted the motion of no confidence against Ciska Jordaan (Mpac chairperson), Encee Van Huyssteen (rules, ethics and by-laws chairperson) and Aranda Nel-Buitendag (public participation committee chairperson).
According to a notice of a motion that was submitted to the acting municipal manager’s office, Lizzy Tshabalala, on Wednesday, April 13, it states that the three chairpersons were absent without any written apology.
It was submitted in terms of section 16 of the council’s standing rules and order.
It also states that as section 79 committee chairpersons, their responsibility is to contribute to the effective and efficient functioning of the council through their oversight role on the performance of the executive on behalf of the council.
The notice state that the three failed to attend two council sittings, dated April 13 and 28, and have contributed to the function of oversight not being performed. This will lead to the dysfunctionality of the council.
The mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, proposed to the council that the matter be dealt with during the latest council meeting that was combined with his State of the Municipal Address because the matter does not affect the executive function.
“The matter should not be referred to the mayoral committee but the council should deal with, and debate it.
“The Mpac chairperson is supposed to hold the council accountable on public funds but she continuously decided not to attend the council meetings, the motion in front of the council contains the content of the functionality of the council,” said Zuma.
Nel-Buitendag, who opposed the motion, disagreed with the mayor. She argued that she did attend the meeting as an FF+ councillor.
Jordaan was replaced by the ANC’s Oupa Sibanyoni who was the MMC for Community Services. Van Huyssteen was replaced by EFF councillor Thabiso Mofokeng and Nel-Buitendag was replaced by Bafana Mthembu.
Zuma also announced changes in his mayoral committee.
Sibanyoni who is now the new Mpac chairperson is replaced by the EFF’s Mavis Ntsibande who is now the MMC for Community Services.
The mayor also requested the speaker’s office to make sure that the three councillors leave the offices.
The DA claims the reason for their absence from the council meetings is that the meetings are illegal. They are challenging the legality of the council speaker.
According to them, she was voted out through a motion of no confidence, but the ANC ignored the outcome thereof.
The DA is heading to court on this matter.
The Mpac committee performs the following functions:
* Reports to the council on its activities that include reviews of municipal annual and quarterly reports and reports to the Council,
* Develops a comprehensive oversight report on the annual report.
* Monitors the implementation of the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) and Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) and submits reports thereto.
The committee also oversees policy formulation and implementation and ensures that Council complies with external reporting requirements.
MPAC examines the financial statements, midyear review in line with the IDP and audit reports of the municipality and considers improvements from previous statements and reports and must evaluate the extent to which recommendations from the Auditor General and Audit Committee have been implemented and also promotes good governance, transparency and accountability.
The committee considers SDBIP reports, recommends any investigation in its area of competence to the council and also requests information from councillors through the office of the speaker and from employees through the office of the municipal manager and the relevant members of the mayoral committee be informed accordingly.
MPAC performs any other function assigned to it by the council.
