Axe to fall on high-ranking BCM officials
Under-performing bosses face wrath of ANC, mayor
HEADS are to roll in Buffalo City Metro soon, as the ANC has given mayor Xola Pakati the go-ahead to fire underperforming executive committee members.
The Dispatch can reveal today that among those in the firing line is community services head Helen Neale-May, for her alleged failure to oversee the cleaning of city streets and ensure that refuse is collected regularly.
This was after ANC provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane addressed the party caucus in the metro on Tuesday and raised concerns about the state of city streets and the pace at which the metro has so far spent its budget.
The caucus was held a day before the council held a special meeting where the metro’s performance in the past three quarters was under scrutiny.
The report revealed that the metro – one of the few in the country still run by the ANC – had spent only 40% of its R1.6-billion budget with only 10 weeks to go to the end of the financial year.
Addressing the caucus on Tuesday, Mabuyane told Pakati that if he did not hold people responsible for the underspend “then know clearly that you are not doing what you are tasked to do as leaders in this council”.
Speaking to the Dispatch on the weekend Mabuyane confirmed addressing the ANC caucus earlier last week, saying: “It is the ANC’s responsibility to guide our deployees.”
The report also revealed that the municipality overspent its overtime budget by 176%, while R308-million of the urban settlement development grant had not been spent.
“I had to go there and express our concerns as the ANC about complaints from Buffalo City residents. It is no secret that the metro’s streets are dirty. We are not singling out anyone. I am just making an example,” said Mabuyane.
But Neale-May called for cool heads, saying: “Indeed I cannot safely say East London is clean, but King William’s Town and the beachfront are clean. We are in the processing of purchasing wheelie bins and new trucks and once such things are available here in East London, the picture will be totally different.”
The Dispatch can also reveal that Pakati summoned his executive to a meeting this week, where performances of each directorate would be under severe scrutiny.
Pakati confirmed he would have a meeting soon with the mayoral committee.
He would not be drawn into discussing who among them faced the axe, except to say: “Yes the provincial chairman was here to meet the ANC caucus, and has raised concerns about the cleanliness of the city, as well the fact that we were only able to spend about 40% of our budget.
“These are issues that I have raised several times with mayoral committee members. Now I have been given a mandate by the ANC to act, and so I will act soon.”