Drop in tourism not linked to visa rules
THE WESTERN Cape government was mulling its next move over the embattled Oudtshoorn municipality after it was advised that the ANC’s take-over of the town’s council was illegal.
The provincial government sought independent legal advice after the municipality’s leadership changed hands for a third time last week.
The ANC pushed through a vote of no confidence in the DA’s executive team led by mayor Wessie van der Westhuizen, just over a week ago with the help of its alliance partners. Former ANC mayor Gordon April, who was unseated by the DA just over two months ago, was reelected to the post.
DA councillors were then locked out of their offices after the ANC’s take-over.
But legal advice sought by the Western Cape government and the national department of Co-operative Governance, has found the council meeting held in Oudtshoorn to unseat the DA was illegal and all decisions and actions following it were also illegal.
“The department is currently formulating an action plan to take matters forward. Announcements will be made this week,” local government spokesman James-Brent Styan said.
Sources within the DA said the provincial government was considering all its options including placing the municipality under full administration while others said it was merely amending the terms of reference of the current agreement.
Other sources have revealed to the Cape Argus that the national government wanted more executive powers for Kam Chetty, appointed as administrator to oversee the government’s intervention.
AfriForum had made a similar request to Premier Helen Zille on Friday, asking her to grant full executive powers to Chetty.
“We now expect the provincial government to show that they govern in the best interests of the Oudtshoorn community.
“In terms of section 139b of the constitution, the provincial government has the power to stop this politicking by stripping the council and the municipal manager from all executive powers and by transferring it to the administrator,” AfriForum’s Pieter Rautenbach, said.
It is not yet clear if the ANC will abide by the legal opinion.
HOME Affairs has suspended 26 officials in a crackdown on document fraud and corruption, but Minister Malusi Gigaba remained dismissive about claims the new visa regulations negatively affected tourism.
Speaking at yesterday’s governance and administration media briefing, Gigaba said opposition to the new visa regimen, including unabridged birth certificates for travelling minors, was based on “lies” and “cooked up figures” – and criticised the domestic tourism industry for “not selling South Africa as well as it should”.
The minister said a drop in tourism arrivals was anticipated when the new visa regimen came into force, but numbers would pick up again as people learnt to comply. There were factors other than the visa rules in play in tourism, including misconceptions South Africa was also affected by the ebola outbreak in three countries in West Africa.
However, Gigaba acknowledged the interministerial committee established to look into and redress “potential unintended consequences” had made many proposals. He declined to outline his own ministry’s proposals, as the committee chairman, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, would “at the right time make the announcement”.
Gigaba’s visa comments follow a parliamentary reply that Home Affairs had established just three visa processing centres in Europe and 13 in Asia. No visa processing centres are established in South America, the reply also said in response to the DA’s parliamentary question, which did not include the US, any other countries or the African continent. “The department is in the process of developing an e-permit system with an intention to roll it out in all South African missions abroad and also extend the visa facilitation services centres in countries where we receive mostly skilled persons for our economy,” said the minister’s parliamentary reply published last week.
However, definitely under way was the Home Affairs clampdown on officials under Operation Bvisa Masina – Tshivenda for “throw out the rot”.
Gigaba yesterday confirmed 26 officials had been suspended, mostly over fake documentation and liaising with syndicates who then approached permit applicants for bribes to facilitate these documents. “Our counter-corruption unit is quite busy… (and) is setting up sting operations with the members involved,” he said.
The Home Affairs anti-corruption measures come as the directive on municipal managers and chief financial officers minimum qualifications appears to be bearing fruit as compliance is enforced.
As of June, 238 municipal managers and 231 municipal chief financial officers in the country’s 278 councils are suitably qualified in line with the minimum competencies set out by the co-operative governance backto-basics programme. Announced a year ago by Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan, the programme aims to get councils to deliver services from water to pothole repairs effectively and efficiently, while also issuing accurate bills.
Twenty-two municipal appointments have been reversed as candidates as they had not met minimum qualification standards.
Gigaba said government would look into taking steps against those interview panels which allowed patently unqualified people to be short-listed in the first place.