Shutdown suspended … for now
THE INTENDED city-wide shutdown has been temporarily suspended pending the Sol Plaatje special council meeting that has been set down for Thursday.
The council meeting, which has been scheduled to start at 10am, has been called to discuss the much anticipated Section 106 investigation at Sol Plaatje Municipality, as well as the ratification of the extension of the acting contracts of the municipal manager and the chief financial officer.
Commitments were made, following a meeting that was held between the Northern Cape Premier, Sylvia Lucas, the MEC for Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta), Bentley Vass, the Sol Plaatje Community Forum and the Northern Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nocci) yesterday, that the Section 106 report would be made public.
Spokesperson for Coghsta, Xhanti Teki, stated that the report would be released by the MEC at the council meeting, which will be open to the public.
He referred media enquiries regarding safety measures to prevent any chaos inside the chambers as well as possible disruptions and cancellations back to the municipality.
Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson, Thoko Riet, stated that while the public was welcome to attend the special council meeting, no decision had been taken whether the presentation of the Section 106 report would be released during a closed session.
“Council can at any stage request the public to leave the chambers,” said Riet.
She indicated that council security as well as the police would be in attendance to provide additional safety measures and prevent any possible disruptions.
“We are confident that the meeting will take place unhindered and that the report will be released.”
Spokesperson for the Office of the Premier, Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams, said that the premier had yesterday requested the community to suspend the shutdown until the council meeting had taken place.
“The MEC for Coghsta instructed the municipality to meet on Thursday and advised all councillors to attend the meeting so that the report can be tabled before council.
“The premier and the MEC for Coghsta both agreed that there is no way that the Section 106 report can be kept secret. The report has to be presented to council so that it can adopt the findings and implement the recommendations. If it was released to the public, there would be no accountability or ownership of the report.”
She pointed out that the matric exams and local business would be negatively affected by any shutdown.
“The premier will meet with the community in Galeshewe to discuss their concerns. She is committed to restoring stability at the municipality.”
Thomas-Abrahams stated that no officials from Sol Plaatje Municipality were involved in yesterday’s meeting, although all councillors had been advised that the meeting had to be finalised as a matter of urgency.
“I am not aware of any engagements that were held with the acting Speaker at Sol Plaatje municipality.”
The acting Speaker, Ben Springbok, last week cancelled a council meeting that was convened to discuss the report “due to safety reasons”.
A member of the Sol Plaatje Community Forum and chairperson of Wanya Tsotsi, Pantsi Obusitse, stated that the community had agreed to temporarily suspend the shutdown until Thursday.
“We were mindful of the fact that matric pupils are writing their exams. Should there be a shutdown it will involve the entire Francis Baard district. We are engaging with Dikgatlong and Phokwane municipalities as they are experiencing similar crises and have also been left without decisive leaders. We will see how we can best assist each other,” said Obusitse.