EC mayors summoned to answer to ANC leaders

Calata House to examine poor performances by certain councils

SEVERAL Eastern Cape mayors and councillors will have to appear before the new ANC provincial leaders in Calata House to answer for the poor performance of their respective municipalities during their first term in office.

ANC provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane, despite committing to uniting the ANC in the province, said: “We are not going to allow our people to suffer because your faction lost an election.”

Mabuyane said there were ANC deployees, including ANC ward councillors and mayors, who refused to come and account for their poor performances.

He said: “Mayors have an obligation to make municipalities functional.

“We are looking at all these issues and as the ANC leadership we have the AG reports already to be able to assess performances of all the ANCrun municipalities,” and government departments.

He singled out Amathole district municipality, saying it was shocking that a municipality responsible for providing basic services such as access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities to thousands of residents within its jurisdiction had now been reduced to an employment agency.

“Reports show that all that Amathole district does with taxpayers’ money is to hire people.

“But its core business is to deliver services.

“You can’t be creating job opportunities without a clear plan of what those people would be doing.

“That is unacceptable,” said Mabuyane.

He said the reports suggested that all was not well either at Mnquma in Butterworth, Great Kei municipality in Komga, the newly merged Raymond Mhlaba local municipality in Fort Beaufort, Enoch Mgijima in Queenstown and Walter Sisulu municipality in Burgersdorp.

He said the newly merged municipalities could be off the hook, due to the fact that they were still battling to adjust to changes in demarcation.

“And yet you have yet another merged municipality at Beyers Naude where the audits show that they have managed things differently.

“Their books are in order. So we have to make everyone account,” he added.

Mabuyane was taking the Dispatch through the ANC’s programme of action now that President Cyril Ramaphosa had tabled the ANC’s blueprint plan of action for 2018 in the January 8 statement.

According to the ANC calendar, the national executive committee will convene its on January 18 and 19.

This is a strategic meeting at which the party uses the January 8 statement as a guide for the state’s priorities.

Mabuyane said on January 28 to 29 the provincial executive committee “would then discuss all these issues in preparation” for the Eastern Cape ANC’s own

Mabuyane’s legitimacy as chairman was endorsed by the Grahamstown High Court after his rivals tried to challenge his election.

Reports show that all that Amathole district does with taxpayers’ money is hire people. But its core business is to deliver services. You can’t be creating job opportunities without a clear plan of what those people would be doing. That is unacceptable