Councillors reluctant to involve association in E500m civic centre
MBABANE – The proposed construction of a civic centre in the capital city continues to be a thorny issue between the municipality and the ratepayers association.
During the council extra ordinary meeting held on Tuesday, most of the councilllors made it known that there was no way that the Mbabane City Ratepayers and Residents Association could be involved. The issue was part of the agenda and the plan was for the councillors to reach an agreement and give approval that a response be given to the association following that it raised a variety of concerns about the project. Last year, the association argued that the nature of ownership of the land, and the style of the project’s trade-off involving that land, completely negated the argument made by the council to the effect that the details of the agreement were legally out of the scope of the ratepayers and residents of the capital city. The association argued that where a public sector entity engaged in the trading of publicly-owned land, the general public became a very important party to a contract. The feeling of the association was that the council was merely an agent responsible to central government for proper custody and control of that land.
In particular, the association filed a formal request to see the project agreement as part of its mandate to represent and protect the rights of thousands of ratepayers and residents.
The association said it was a body of essential stakeholders which paid 90 per cent of all the operating costs of the municipality and, therefore, did not need legal authority to seek answers on valid questions. The request to have sight of the project agreement was to apply the extensive skills of the association’s executive committee to the minimisation of risks within the project; and at no charge to the council for performing that service. Another gripe by the association was that there was no evidence of a formal comparative valuation of the land but the project implicitly suggests a valuation of around E550 million.
After the association had stated the concerns, the municipality accused it of wanting to analyse, scrutinise or even actively advise on how the agreement with the PPP partner should be structured, something which was legally way out of scope. The association then approached the then Minister of Housing and Urban Development Prince Simelane, who however, had his term of office coming to an end before he could respond. During the council meeting on Tuesday, some of the councillors said they did not understand why they had to bother responding to the association when it had already taken the issue to the ministry. Others, however, submitted that there was nothing wrong with responding since the council had a duty to work together with the association. There was then an argument that the issue should not be entertained especially because a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the council and association made it clear that the latter should not be involved in issues of major projects like the proposed civic centre.
“If I remember well, we have an MoU with the association. It does state that there are issues where the association cannot be involved. We agreed that when it comes to PPPs, the office of the chief executive officer should be the one responsible by virtue of the fact that it has all the expertise,” one of the councillors submitted.
As the debate continued, a submission was made that since this was seemingly a thorny issue, it should not be discussed in public but that a council-in-committee should have a sitting and engage on it. Again, some of the councillors asked to know why the matter should not be discussed openly as there was nothing confidential about it.
“I feel that this issue has the potential of causing some noise. Again, I am seeking clarity on what qualifies a matter to go to the council-in-meeting,” another councillor submitted.
In the end, the councillors agreed that the issue be deliberated upon in a council-in-committee forum.