DEAR Editor,-
As August drew to its close, I looked back at the Ugu Portfolio Committee meetings I normally attend in a month. Six of these meetings never took place, five of them could not meet as there were not enough members present to constitute a quorum, and the sixth one could not meet because some pages of the financial statement were completely unreadable.
This lack of purpose malaise is now knocking at the door of the council chamber itself where the August full council meeting was held up for five minutes before a quorum could be raised. The ANC membership of council and its committees is so prevalent that it could raise quorums by itself.
This lack of interest by the ruling party might indicate that it lacks the stamina and political will to rescue the municipality from its gross mismanagement and ineptitude. This was confirmed by the Auditor-General’s disclaimer opinion, as well as concern subsequently raised by the Ugu Audit Committee in respect of problems in supply chain management, lack of meter readers, excessive overtime, unauthorised and irregular, as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Surely it’s manifested by now that Ugu problems are unlikely to be solved by the not holding of vitally important meetings.
DAVE SNASHALL
