Mpumalanga Cooperative Governance and Human Settlements Department has given municipalities 14 days to constitute councils
The deadline for municipalities to have functioning councils in place, is November 20.
Mpumalanga’s Department of Cooperative Governance and Human Settlement has already issued guidelines outlining the dates by which first council meetings must be convened.
MEC Speed Mashilo said at least 14 of the province’s 17 municipalities are hung, including Govan Mbeki Municipality and Lekwa Local Municipality.
“By law the Electoral Commission (IEC) must have provided municipal offices with the list of elected councillors with addresses, and subsequently, a municipal manager must therefore issue invitations to all elected councillors to convene before November 20, which is 14 days after the elections. The district council must also sit for a meeting withing those 14 days,” said Mashilo.
He further said that should the elected parties fail to reach an agreement, a panel will be appointed to find a solution.
“In the event that a conclusion can not be reached, even with mediation, then we will activate the law. We will then dissolve that municipality for re-election so that at least the majority can come into the picture and elect councillors, but we hope we will not get to this point. We believe all political parties are mature enough to make sure that they now deliver services to communities.” said Mashilo.
