Brakes still on Makana management

As Makana Municipality sinks deeper into financial and management crisis, it remains interdicted from appointing someone to its key management post, following the postponement last Thursday of the matter between former councillor Paul Notyawa and Makana Municipality.

In April the High Court in Grahamstown ruled in favour of Notyawa, handing down a temporary interdict pending the outcome of a review appli- cation in the matter between Notyawa and Makana Municipality and the MEC for Cogta in the Eastern Cape.

Notyawa lodged court papers in February this year that seek to have the court declare he was lawfully appointed in the post of municipal manager on 12 March 2015.

Thursday’s appearance in the High Court saw the case postponed to 26 July.

Makana Municipality’s recruitment process for the appointment of a municipal manager was halted, follow- ing Notyawa’s claim. In court documents, Notyawa says he was lawfully appointed in the post of municipal manager on 12 March 2015 and makes explosive claims of political interference by the ANC at regional, provincial and national level that prevented him from taking up the position.

Should his application to have Makana compelled to conclude a written employment contract with him prove successful, there would be considerable financial and other implications for the em- battled local municipality.

The respondents in the matter are listed as Makana Municipality, the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape, and former administrator in Makana Municipality, Pam Yako.

Social Services Director Mandisi Planga’s term as acting municipal manager is about to end, and officials anticipate that the agenda of a special Council meeting on Wednesday will be to appoint a new incumbent.