By Craig Kotze
Emfuleni Executive Mayor Gift Moerane has apologised in a full Council meeting for the smart meter replacement fiasco and placed accountability for disastrous planning and implementation firmly at the door of top ELM officials.
In a hard-hitting Council speech last Thursday which focused strongly on official accountability and council oversight of the ELM acting Municipal Manager and Chief Financial Officer, Moerane also said Council rejected their Annual Financial Statements for 2018/19.
He openly said the smart meter replacement disaster resulted from “poor planning” – directly contradicting a recent media statement by acting MM Dithaba Nkoane blaming service provider BXCSA and contractual issues.
To date, lack of contingency planning and overturning transitional arrangements with BXCSA after implementation started on the replacement process is said by experts to have cost ELM more than R20 million in direct and indirect costs so far.
“Planning for the change-over or the implementation of transitional steps was poor. We do apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused especially during the winter period,” Moerane said.
He reflected growing concern in multiple sectors on the judgement, competence and accountability of Nkoane whose handling of the smart meter crisis was described as poor leadership and clumsy by the Gauteng Province Finance MEC.
In rejecting the “ïncomplete” report and giving the acting MM 48 hours to resubmit, Moerane said “Management has failed us today…. We expect no deviation to the 48-hour deadline and want to appeal to management not to force us beyond this point.
“We will be left with no option after the stated time-frame but to act against lethargy and laziness,” said Moerane. The ELM Mayoral Management Committee (MAYCO) also shared grave reservations about the rejected report, he added.
The rejection is a major blow to acting MM Nkoane and is seen as a firm rejection of his leadership operationally and as ELM chief accounting officer. He also faces prior allegations on irregular senior appointments without Council approval, including CFO Andile Dyakala, the actual compiler of the rejected council report.
At time of publication it was not known if a new report had been submitted within Moerane’s deadline – neither Nkoane personally or ELM spokesperson Stan Gaba responded to Ster/Vaalweekblad’s requests for comment.
The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) welcomed the rejection of Nkoane’s flawed report, saying Moerane had correctly identified accountability and oversight of officials as the decisive factor in local government.
“The GTCoC also welcomes Mayor Moreane’s announcement that a permanently appointed Municipal Manager will begin on 1 November,” said GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger.
Kritzinger in recent weeks has also requested both Moerane and Gauteng Premier David Makhura to suspend and investigate both Nkoane and Dyakala on smart meters and alleged irregular appointments at ELM.