Great Kei a municipality ‘at war with itself’, warns ANC

THE ANC in the province has described Great Kei as a municipality at war with itself, saying if the leadership there did not change its attitude, it would end up being removed from office by residents unhappy with poor service delivery.

ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said the municipality was on the brink of collapse because of a breach of trust between municipal leaders and residents, who had mobilised and marched against the municipality both last year and again this year.

A call for the resignation of mayor Loyiso Tshetsha was at the top of their list of demands.

A community mass meeting to unite the warring factions was meant to be held earlier this week but was postponed due to the unavailability of MECs and premier Phumulo Masualle, who is on a visit to China.

Ngcukayitobi said they had agreed with the leadership of the Great Kei United Forum, which is the body residents have mobilised themselves under, to move the mass meeting to a later date.

Ngcukayitobi said the state of Great Kei municipality was of grave concern to the party’s executive committee.

“That municipality is not in a good state. The leadership have taken their eyes off the ball as they are at odds with both the community and the workers. That is the fundamental issue,” said Ngcukayitobi.

“If the municipality continues to ignore the calls from the community about service delivery, which is their core mandate, then it is a problem.

“If the municipality continues to harass workers who are supposed to be discharging the responsibility of service delivery then it becomes an even bigger problem. As things stand Great Kei is a municipality at war with itself because the three legs of a municipality – the council, the community and the workers – are at odds.”

The impasse started last year when angry residents accused the council of failing to deliver services and the mayor of plundering municipal funds.

This was after his driver crashed the mayor’s official car in December, which is now reportedly being repaired at a cost of R500 000 to be paid from municipal coffers.

Tshetsha could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he has in the recent past repeatedly dismissed accusations regarding the car crash.

In February 2017, residents submitted a seven-page petition to the mayor accusing him of behaving “in a shameful manner which is detrimental to the council as well as to the achievement of the council’s overall development objectives as stipulated in Section 152 of the SA constitution”. —