City invited to explain lack of replies in legislature

THE ANC wants the mayor and City officials to be taken to task by the legislature for their refusal to answer questions put to them via Local Government MEC Anton Bredell.

For the past few months, the City has refused to answer written questions posed by MPLs in the legislature, with the City saying in answer to every question that the municipality does not account to the legislature on its internal matters.

Speaking during a heated debate during question time in the legislature on Thursday, ANC leader Cameron Dugmore said the issue was a matter of urgency, and the City should be invited to the legislature to explain themselves.

“Punitive measures should be taken against the City, and the MEC should tell us the steps he has taken to address the situation.”

The debate stemmed from Good Party MPL Brett Herron asking Bredell whether he was obliged to answer questions about municipalities from MPLs and whether local governments were obliged to provide him with information in order for him to comply with the Constitution.

“The MEC wrote to me that the provincial executive’s duty to monitor and support municipalities cannot be interpreted to the extent of providing provincial government with the authority to impede on the autonomy of municipalities.

“Asking questions is how monitoring, accountability and transparency is conducted, and the City of Cape Town is a city gone rogue.”

Responding to the debate, Bredell read the City’s response, which said that the mayor and the city manager were accountable to the city council for the exercise of their duties and not to the legislature.

He said the response was a legal opinion from the City, and it had been distributed to all 30 municipalities in the province.

He has since asked the Province’s legal services branch to find out the obligations of municipalities in relation to submitting information and reports to the provincial government in circumstances where legislation does not compel them to do so.

“I think it is high time that we get clarity on exactly what we can and cannot do.”