MEC ups ante on DA in Tshwane
He wants metro under administration
THE DA in Gauteng is bracing itself for another skirmish, following Premier David Makhura’s cabinet decision to speed up the process to place the DA-led City of Tshwane under administration.
Last week, Gauteng co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Lebogang Maile tabled the provincial cabinet’s intervention report on the City of Tshwane to the speaker in the legislature, Ntombi Mekgwe.
Maile listed the reasons why they wanted the City of Tshwane to be placed under administration in terms of Section 139 (1), read together with section 154 of the Constitution.
Maile wants to appoint an administrator to run the affairs of the City of Tshwane, saying the DA-led coalition government had failed to bring stability to the metro, and that it had suffered financial losses amounting to billions owing to the lack of sound financial management since the DA took over the metro in August 2016.
“The Gauteng department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs must immediately develop a plan for the appropriate steps to be taken to give effect to the constitutional obligation of the provincial government in terms of Section 154 that will culminate in proper and meaningful support for the City of Tshwane,” Maile said.
He said the City of Tshwane had failed to provide basic services such as “quality” water to residents in Hammanskraal and neighbouring villages.
“The area also experienced water interruptions and had been without water for some months, due to a damaged substation that led to leakages of effluent into the water supply.”
Maile said schools and health-care facilities such as Jubilee Hospital had to be closed down and patients transferred to neighbouring hospitals.
He added that the City of Tshwane had also seen a number of no confidence votes, which had created instability.
“There have also been several votes of no confidence in the previous and the current executive mayor (Stevens Mokgalapa). These 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 the governing coalition partners,” he said.
Maile claimed that the DA-led administration had illegally reappointed PEU to implement smart meters, resulting in the loss of more than R1.6 billion.
“The irregular expenditure accounts for 73% of the total unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The municipal public accounts committee report indicated that the City had investigated at least R1.7bn of the total R6.9bn of wasteful expenditure,” he said.