Knysna one step closer to administration
The implication of Bredell’s move means that the municipal council could be dissolved with the appointment of an administrator until a newly elected council has been declared elected.
KNYSNA - The first step to place Knysna Municipality under administration has been taken by Anton Bredell, Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
In a 28-page letter sent to the council on Tuesday 16 April, Bredell took the first legal step to intervene in Knysna, triggered by the municipality’s “failure and/or inability” to fulfil certain executive obligations.
In the letter to Mayor Aubrey Tsengwa and Speaker Mncedisi Skosana, Bredell informs them that he is considering making a recommendation to Premier Alan Winde and the Western Cape Cabinet that they intervene in the municipality in terms of section 139(1)(a) of the Constitution.
The letter contains a myriad of allegations of inaction relating to ecological problems - especially wastewater management and solid waste management services. Bredell said the first case of hepatitis has been recorded as a direct result of pollution of the Knysna Estuary.
The letter follows hot on the heels of the criminal case about the same issues opened by Bredell’s department against the Knysna Municipality. The DA has also reported the municipality to the Human Rights Council.
Bredell’s decision to step in is in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution which states that if a municipality fails, “or when it does not perform”, it could lead to intervention.
Bredell urges that the content of his letter is brought to the attention of the council “as a matter of urgency” and that the council “tables, considers and responds to the content”.
Council could be dissolved
The implication of Bredell’s move means that the municipal council could be dissolved with the appointment of an administrator until a newly elected council has been declared elected “if exceptional circumstances warrant such a step”.
The province is expected to appoint administrators who are accountable to the provincial executive and act in a provincial capacity, should this happen.
Section 139 enables the province to take any appropriate steps which include issuing directives and assuming executive responsibility, not totally take over municipal powers, but only deal with those aspects where the municipal council has failed. The intervention should be corrective, not punitive, according to legislation.
Bredell said two previous attempts to implement the recommendations of a
Diagnostic Assessment and Support Plan, in 2018 and again in 2020, were not acted upon.
In February this year the Western Cape Government again presented the 2024 Diagnostic Report and Support Plan to the municipality that highlighted the need for governance-related assistance, as well as support, “to address the regressive service delivery challenges in terms of wastewater management and solid waste management”.
Dragging its feet
But the council did not show any urgency in adopting the plan.
Bredell’s notice of intention to intervene in terms of section 139(1)(a) of the Constitution said there was evidence that “there are reasonable grounds” that Knysna municipality “cannot or is not” fulfilling certain executive obligations.
“As such, I am considering making a recommendation to the Provincial Executive that it intervene in terms of section 139(1)(a) of the Constitution.”
He said his notice was to afford the municipality and the council an opportunity to consider its contents and “revert” to the Provincial Executive, via his office, why the proposed intervention should not be initiated.
The intention for the intervention is to “maintain essential national standards or meet established minimum standards for the rendering of a service” by the municipality.
“Furthermore,” said Bredell, “it is also evident that the exercise of executive authority is related to section 152 of the Constitution which outlines the objects of local government.”
These included the obligation “to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities”, “to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner”, “to promote social and economic development” and “promote a safe and healthy environment”.
“I have reason to believe that the municipality is failing to execute its executive obligations in terms of the minimum standards for the provision of basic services, more specifically wastewater management and solid waste management services.”
Failure of basic services
The municipality’s “negligence or wilful failure to perform its executive obligations” has further caused the ongoing degradation and pollution of the environment, contrary to the obligation imposed upon the municipality not to offend against the fundamental constitutional right that: “Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures”.
These measures should prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources, while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
Bredell said “consequent” to the failure of the municipality to execute its executive obligations to provide minimum standards of basic services, such as wastewater and solid waste management, the municipality, “based on its continued failures is now causing the ongoing degradation and pollution of the environment”.
Central to this proposed intervention is also the municipality’s failure to observe its environmental obligations, as contained in the Constitution, and adhere to the principles in National Environmental Management Act (NEMA).
Pollution of the estuary
“The municipality is causing, and has caused significant pollution of the environment, and the Knysna Estuary and its respective aquatic and marine/coastal ecosystems, by failing to take reasonable measures to prevent such pollution from continuing or recurring.
“The current state of pollution within the Bigai River and the Knysna Estuary, as well as the inadequate sewerage infrastructure and lack of maintenance, is not only causing significant pollution of the environment but may also impact negatively on the health and well-being of the public and the residents residing along Bigai River and the affected areas within the Knysna Estuary.”
Bredell said the first case of hepatitis has been recorded as a direct result of pollution of the Knysna Estuary.
Bredell said in light of the municipality’s “persistent and ongoing failure to fulfil its executive obligations” the Provincial Executive “cannot abdicate its constitutional obligation to exercise oversight over the municipality and allow these failures to continue unabated, merely because the municipality fails to acknowledge the seriousness of the problems, address the failures and plan appropriately”.