No need for party to interfere in town governance issues

Johann Brummer:

The DA’s admission this week that their council has lost it and is no longer in control of the Bitou council and administration is scary.

Even scarier is what their response and proposed solution to this dire situation reveal.

To begin with, one of the most basic tenets of municipal governance is that, in terms of section 59 of the Municipal Systems Act, all power vests in the council (all 13 councillors.) For practical purposes, section 59(1)(a) allows the council to delegate most of its powers, with a few exceptions, to its executive mayor.

Contrary to what the DA claims, however, executive mayors have no “statutory powers”. The statute relevant to executive mayors is the Municipal Structures Act and section 56 deals comprehensively with the functions and powers of executive mayors. It ascribes many functions to the executive mayor but does not confer any power whatsoever directly to him/ her.

Section 56(3)(f) requires that he/she, “… perform such duties and exercise such powers as the council may delegate to the executive mayor in terms of section 59 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000)”.

By the same token, the council may in terms of Section 59(1)(c) withdraw any delegation at any time, even without reason. This is done by a simple majority vote and can be easily achieved.

Section 59(3)(a) of the Systems Act allows a council to review any decision taken under delegation by the mayor and to “either confirm, vary or revoke the decision subject to any rights that may have accrued to a person”.

It goes without saying that where malfeasance resulting in financial damage is exposed, the council is obliged, in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act, to hold the person accountable and recover the loss.

Legislation says it all

It is all simple and straightforward, basic, run-of-the-mill governance. It is all contained in legislation. It is paint-by-numbers and requires no skills beyond common sense.

It all relates purely to the nitty-gritty, day-to-day running of a municipality and falls squarely within the ambit of the Bitou council and not that of any political party. Any involvement by a political party undeniably amounts to interference in the affairs of government. (It is no different to the ANC instructing its MPs to allow Zuma to continue his plunder.)

The fact that the DA proposes to report back on the breakdown of Bitou government exclusively to its “members and supporters” at a DA gathering is a slap in the face of all South Africans. It is a founding principle of the Constitution that government must be accountable, responsive and open, and that all citizens are equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits contained in the Constitution. Nowhere does it say that these rights are exclusive to the party faithful.

It is high time that the DA Bitou council does what is required of it by law; takes responsibility for its own actions and inactions; holds the DA’s chosen mayor to account; recovers the financial losses; and reports back as a council to all the people of Bitou.

The DA councillors must just comply with the Constitution and the law.