Council infighting to hit locals hard
Mnquma warned to get its house in order
POLITICAL analysts have warned that residents will suffer further unless the problems in Mnquma municipality are resolved.
They believe Mnquma municipality can either buy municipal manager Sindile Tantsi out of his remaining nine months in office or continue wasting taxpayers’ money on lengthy court battles.
This as the Mthatha High Court set aside Tantsi’s suspension and declared it unlawful and unconstitutional last week.
The ruling by judge Justice Brooks paved the way for the under-fire official to return to work.
Tantsi was welcomed back to the municipality by a contingent of residents on Monday morning.
But mayor Thobeka Bikitsha, who does not see eye-to-eye with Tantsi, said the municipality is appealing the court ruling.
This will further drag the matter likely by months meaning Butterworth, Centane and Ngqamakhwe residents will have to endure more months of poor service delivery, analysts Mcebisi Ndletyana and Daniel Silke cautioned yesterday.
Ndletyana said while the power struggle raged on, residents were the ones who would continue to suffer.
“In any situation where there is instability or political meddling, service delivery is the first casualty. The whole system is muddled – there’s no distinguishing between politics and managers.
“It is in the best interest of the municipality to stabilise the administration, whatever that means. It certainly doesn’t look like there will ever be a healthy relationship between the municipal manager and municipal leaders.”
Ndletyana said paying out the MM would be a waste of government funds when things could have been done differently.
Silke echoed Ndletyana’s sentiments, saying delivering improved services should be every local authority’s primary priority.
“When there’s this level of infighting and inefficiency, the people of the area suffer because that delays service delivery.
“We need a fair amount of pressure at a Salga [South African Local Government Association] to resolve these conflicts faster because they impact on service delivery.
“Currently, the process is too cumbersome – too lengthy,” he said.
The local authority is also involved in another court case where former speaker Nomnikelo Magadla and Tantsi are challenging Zonwabele Plata’s appointment as interim municipal manager in court on the grounds that due processes were not followed when Bikitsha initially appointed Plata without council approval.
The council reappointed Plata a few days after the court gave an interim order saying Plata should cease performing duties attached to the MM’s office.
Among the allegations that saw Tantsi being suspended included allegedly locking Bikitsha and speaker Zibuthe Mnqwazi out of their offices.
The instability has also resulted in contracts stalling as contractors were not paid for months for work done.