DA vows to retain control of Tshwane

Gauteng government joins fray to oust party

THE DA in Gauteng has vowed to retain control of the City of Tshwane despite facing multi-pronged attacks internally and from the Gauteng government under Premier David Makhura to relinquish power.

Last month, the ANC and EFF failed in their bid to oust mayor Stevens Mokgalapa and Speaker Katlego Mathebe after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ruled the process to pass a vote of no confidence against the pair on December 5 was flawed and set it aside.

Now, the Gauteng government has joined the fray.

Last week, Gauteng Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Lebogang Maile tabled the provincial cabinet intervention report for the City of Tshwane to the Gauteng provincial legislature Speaker, Ntombi Mekgwe.

In the report, Maile listed a number of reasons their cabinet wants the City of Tshwane to be placed under administration.

Maile wants to appoint an administrator to run the affairs of the City of Tshwane, saying the DA-led coalition government in the City has failed to bring stability and the municipality has suffered financial losses amounting to billions, due to lack of sound financial management since the DA took over in August 2016.

“Cogta must immediately develop a cogent plan with appropriate steps to be taken to give effect to the constitutional obligation of the provincial government that will culminate in proper and meaningful support for the City of Tshwane.”

Maile said the City of Tshwane had failed to provide basic services such as “quality” water to residents in Hammanskraal and neighbouring villages.

“The area has also experienced water interruptions and had been without water for some months due to a damaged substation which led to leakage of effluent into the water supply,” he said.

Maile said schools and health care facilities such as Jubilee Hospital had to be closed down and patients transferred to neighbouring hospitals for their safety.

He added that the City of Tshwane had also been hit by a number of votes of no confidence which created instability.

“There have also been several ‘votes of no confidence’ motions in the previous and current (Stevens Mokgalapa) executive mayor. By their very nature, the motions are an indication that there are serious leadership challenges in the municipality.

“There is a lack of leadership coherence and integrity in the governing coalition partners of the municipality. This is often demonstrated by public statements that impugn the integrity of the political relationship of governing coalition partners,” he said.

He claimed that the DA-led administration illegally reappointed Peu to implement smart meters, saying as a result the City suffered losses of more than R1.6 billion.

“The irregular expenditure accounts for 73% of the total Unauthorised, Irregular, Fruitless and Wasteful (UIFM) expenditure.

“The Municipal Public Accounts Committee report indicated that the City investigated at least R1.7bn of the total R6.9bn of UIFM expenditure.

“However, the report does not indicate if any money was recovered thus far. The City must expedite the process of investigations and implement consequence management and recover the misused funds where possible.”

But the DA leader in Gauteng, John Moodey, would have none of it.

Moodey said Maile had failed to table his report to a full council meeting for it to comment on its contents.

“They have not complied with the Constitution.

“They should have tabled the intervention report to the municipality to afford it an opportunity to respond but they failed to do so,” he said.

Moodey was adamant his party would approach the courts if the government went ahead with its intention. “We will go to court and we will seek a personal costs order against MEC Lebogang Maile,” he said.