Lobby group seeks to bypass municipalities
• Lobby group wants a special independent paymaster
A court order to prevent two municipalities in North West from directly receiving payment for services such as water and electricity will play a pivotal role in halting the rot at local government nationally, says lobby group Sakeliga.
A court order to prevent two municipalities in North West from directly receiving payment for services such as water and electricity will play a pivotal role in halting the rot at local government level nationally, says lobby group Sakeliga.
“This is the way forward for municipal recovery... this is the kind of relief that will bring durable stability,” Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga, which represents mainly Afrikaans business owners, said on Monday.
Sakeliga’s application to the high court in Mahikeng brings into sharp focus the dysfunction at municipal level, the coalface of basic service delivery, and how these failures threaten business and job creation efforts.
Eskom, the technically bankrupt power utility that supplies virtually all the country’s electricity, has threatened to cut off power to municipalities that do not pay for it.
Sakeliga approached the court requesting that the Ditsobotla (formerly Lichtenburg and Coligny) and Naledi (Vryburg) municipalities be placed under the administration of a special independent paymaster. The lobby group wants a separate entity to be established to receive the electricity and water payments from the towns in a bank account held in the name of the municipality but not under its control.
The money will then be distributed from that account to Eskom and the water utility and used to finance emergency services in the town.
The remaining funds will be handed over to the municipality.
PAID DIRECTLY
“Such a paymaster should ensure that fees for services, such as water and electricity, are paid directly to their suppliers, in accordance with the municipal budget and obligations, rather than being squandered by incompetent officials with the effect that business communities and residents are left without critical services,” Le Roux said.
The application cites, among others, the ministers of finance and co-operative governance and traditional affairs, and the North West premier as respondents. It comes at a time when many municipalities across SA are facing acute management and financial problems, leading to a failure to meet debt obligations, which cripples service delivery in some instances.
In June, food and beverages group Clover SA announced that it was closing the country’s biggest cheese factory and moving it from Lichtenburg to KwaZulu-Natal because of poor roads, water shortages and constant power outages.
Sakeliga says its case forms part of a long-term strategy to halt state decay at municipal level across the country so that business environments can recover from years of mismanagement and corruption.
“We want to start with these two [Ditsobotla and Naledi] because we have got the facts, but there are several others we are looking it,” Le Roux said.
If we are successful, then we will have a test case to apply to other dysfunctional municipalities,” he said.
“It is clear that bookkeeping and administration do not exist at the affected municipalities in North West.
“This means that millions of rand for electricity, water and sewerage services and other infrastructure projects are mismanaged and disappear each month with impunity, at the expense of businesses. With this application, Sakeliga is taking a considerable step to end the ongoing waste, corruption and thuggery at North West municipalities,” he said.
None of the respondents in Sakeliga’s case, including the minister of finance, the minister of co-operative governance and the premier of North West, have yet filed opposing papers at the high court in Mahikeng despite two previous extensions.
Le Roux said an extension had been granted with a new deadline now set for Wednesday. If they fail to file papers by then, Sakeliga will start with the application to put the case on the unopposed roll for trial.
This means that the respondents will be unable to deliver any argument unless they apply to the court for condonation of late filing.
The National Treasury and the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs had yet to respond to requests for comment on Monday.
The North West premier’s office could not be reached.