VANDERBIJLPARK. – After several months, the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has finally filled the important vacancy of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) chairperson.

This followed the vacancy left at the end of May 2023 when African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) Councillor Sello George Mokhele resigned from the position, citing concerns over his safety. Mokhele had served in the position for just over a year.

Earlier this year, he survived an alleged attempted attack when his vehicle was fired upon by unknown gunmen. The alleged assailants remain at large. The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the African National Congress (ANC) used the ELM Council sitting on September 28 2023, to vote for Councillor Tebogo Thlokwe as the new MPAC chair of the ELM. The MPAC chairperson is appointed by the Council in accordance with section 79(2)(c) of the Structures Act and must be appointed from the opposition.

Thlokwe had previously been ‘elected’ as the Sedibeng District Executive Mayor in a sitting where the ANC staged a walkout.

During the same Council sitting, ELM Executive Mayor Councillor Sipho Radebe called for an ‘open and frank dialogue’ with ELM management, employees, and organised labour to address the glaring and structural weaknesses in the institution.

“It is regrettable that there is a terrible culture of absenteeism, late arrivals, and a general dereliction of duties taking place in the institution. There is absent leadership in management. The flock is without the shepherd in many departments,” Radebe stated.

Radebe also emphasised the need for timely payment of all ELM commitments, especially to Eskom. He touched on the work of the public-public partnership aimed at enhancing technical capacity to improve service delivery and the accommodation for an accounting treatment to alleviate Emfuleni’s current financial burden with Rand Water.

“We held a workshop on the subject as councillors and took the report to various council structures. The Memorandum of Understanding is proposed to facilitate the partnership and allow for further discussion after the completion of the due diligence process,” he explained.

The mayor also spoke about the October 2023 IDP and Budget Public Participation process.

“The October 2023 visit to all the five regions of the Vaal must be more meaningful and relevant to the key activities we are involved in and they must cement the partnership between the public and the government,” he said.