UMGUNGUNDLOVU DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY OPERATING WITHOUT AN MM AND CFO

UMgungundlovu District Municipality has been without a manager for over 18 months and opposition parties blame internal leadership squabbles for the delay in making the appointment.

The municipality is also without a chief financial officer.

The DA has written to the Kwazulu-natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-moloi calling for urgent intervention following the umgungundlovu District Municipality’s failure to appoint a permanent municipal manager for about 18 months.

The party has also accused her of not acting fast enough in dealing with the crisis, which it says is negatively impacting service delivery.

District Mayor Mzi Zuma said the appointment process was under way and that the executive committee (Exco) was updated on all the developments on the matter.

About two weeks ago we gave an update to Exco. Initially, the advert for the position went out but there were issues with the required qualifications. The regulations required that qualifications be set higher than those of general managers who will be reporting to the municipal manager.

“That has since been resolved and around March an advert went out and we received several interested parties. They are all being screened and vetted for criminal checks and authentication,” said Zuma.

He said they expected to receive information from national Cogta on criminal records and verification of qualifications before the end of May. Reacting to the response to parliamentary questions, the DA’S Meyer said “the entire debacle has yet again revealed that while MEC Sitholemoloi is quick to intervene where the ANC is not in power, she is slow to act against her party”.

“The situation in umgungundlovu has now become dire as a series of acting municipal managers oversee the collapse of this important district municipality, which includes KZN’S capital city of Msunduzi and the Da-governed umngeni,” Martin Meyer, DA’S spokesperson for Cogta, said in a statement.

Meyer said either the MEC and her department were unwilling to act, or were incapable of doing anything.

He said all that the department had done to date was to send a few letters and “gentle” reminders to umgungundlovu.

“There is also no clarity on why the district has taken almost a year and a half to appoint a permanent municipal manager. The situation may well be yet another result of the ANC’S ongoing factional battles, coupled with uncertainty among its ranks over the election outcome — which have now made it impossible for the party to appoint someone,” he said.

In the letter dated April 8, and signed by MEC Sithole-moloi, the department recommended that Meyer direct his questions directly to the municipality. About the interventions the department has offered to fast-track the appointment process of the manager, the department said: “On December 12, 2023 and February 23, 2024 the MEC issued a letter to the municipality directing that the appointment be finalised. KZN Cogta held a meeting with the mayor on May 31, 2023 to provide guidance and support.

“The filling of vacant senior manager posts was also monitored at the governance, state capacity and institutional development cluster meetings. In addition, circular No. 11 of 2023 on the filling of posts was issued to the municipality on October 10, 2023,” said the department.

It further said that section 54 A of the Municipal Systems Act allows the municipal council to appoint a municipal manager as head of administration or an acting municipal manager.

On Monday, Cogta spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi said the MEC has offered the necessary support to umgungundlovu.

Former Cogta acting deputy director general and IFP councillor in umgungundlovu, Lionel Pienaar said the municipal leadership has failed “dismally” in strengthening good governance. Pienaar said six months before the 18-month period commenced, they questioned if the appointment process for the municipal manager had started.

The position was vacated by former manager Dr Ray Ngcobo following the expiration of his contract.

“The lack of a permanent municipal manager in umgungundlovu is compounded by the fact we don’t have a chief financial officer. This results in poor governance and there seems to be a lack of appetite to get the house in order.”

“The regulations of 2014 on the appointment of senior managers prescribe this process and there are timelines attached to these. There should be urgent intervention in this matter before things get out of control,” said Pienaar.

Pienaar said the umgungundlovu CFO’S post has been advertised, but the process has stalled.