Plans to fix EMLM ills
New municipal manager ready for action
THE new municipal manager of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality Ntsokolo Magwangqana is making plans to turn around what he has described as “one of the most financially distressed municipalities in the province”.
Magwangqana started work on January 3 after his appointment was approved by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa late last year.
The appointment comes after lengthy in-fighting in the ANC and dissatisfaction from opposition parties about the most suitable candidate for the post.
In a press briefing, Magwangqana said he was currently busy with an “analysis and normalisation stage” which required meeting with department heads.
“I have briefed the mayoral committee on some of the issues I think should be dealt with first. The major issue to be emphasised is that EMLM is a new municipality and the normalisation process includes dealing with issues of the various municipalities before the amalgamation. One of the key issues is that of staff who retained their positions from the former municipalities. My role in this regard would be to draw up a new organogram.”
He said the next step would be to ensure that all staff enjoyed the same rights and privileges.
Another key issue would be revenue collection with Magwangqana expressing shock about the low payment rate for electricity. While the municipality’s Eskom bill was a monthly R33-million, only a fragment of that amount could be collected.
“This is why the municipality is currently auditing all electricity meter boards to see whether they are in a good condition and whether or not people are stealing electricity. There is evidence that some people steal electricity and we shall deal with them accordingly.”
To a question about consumers who claim not to be receiving municipal accounts, he said it was a broad statement to make and “came from people who do not want to pay”.
He said a company had been appointed to identify problems related to revenue collection. Reacting to a query about EMLM’s recent decision to make a R40-million loan from FNB to allow payment of Eskom, he said it was normal for a municipality with problems of such magnitude to ask a bank for a credit facility. The principles that controlled such loans were that, if a bank granted the loan, a certain amount would be used as needed and the municipality would only pay interest for what it used. Magwangqana said the loan facility had to be paid back before the end of the current financial year and would be guided by the finance recovery plan on how revenue would be collected to help pay the loan. “Ratepayers are one of the streams of revenue for a municipality and we also have an equitable share which is guaranteed revenue every quarter. Our equitable share goes straight to the bank, so we guaranteed the bank that there was a source of income and security that the loan would be paid back. “The notion that by the time we sat for our first council meeting we already had an overdraft is incorrect, because that is an illegal thing to do. No bank would give an overdraft without a council resolution. Administratively there are documents that need to be filled out and the credit worthiness of the municipality is checked by the bank.” Magwangqana was previously the director of a legal service centre and received an award to study local government in the UK where he obtained a post graduate qualification at the University of Birmingham. He worked in three municipalities in the UK and worked in Germany, France and Mozambique where he assisted in the development of local government policies, and in Botswana, where he specialised in local economic development. Magwangqana formed part of the ANC that developed the policies on local government that led to the development of the White Paper in 1998. He has been a mayor, a municipal manager and was the CEO for the South African Local Government Association for seven years.