The Municipal Systems Amendment Bill has been given the nod by the national cabinet for tabling in Parliament.
The Municipal Systems Amendment Bill has been given the nod by the national cabinet for tabling in Parliament.
The aim of the bill is to prevent political office bearers from being appointed to senior local government posts. The Bill provides for “the establishment of uniform and consistent systems and procedures for municipalities”, according to a press statement from government communications.
“The absence of common standards has created an untenable situation that made it possible for municipalities to adopt desperate human resources practices, remuneration and conditions of service.”
United Democratic Movement member, Max Mhlathi said the party is fully behind the enactment of the bill. “We fully support it because it prevents political office bearers from holding senior positions. People should be appointed on merit, not because of their political affiliations.
This will prevent senior managers from appointing their comrades to high positions even though they are not capable of delivering.” Democratic Alliance MPL Bobby Stevenson said one of the reasons for the introduction of the bill is to deal with infighting within the ANC.
“Legislation has to be introduced to deal with essentially what is ANC infighting within municipalities. A major conflict of interest has developed where the mayor may be in charge of the municipality but within the party structures he is subject to the authority of people who serve under him in the municipality.”
He added: “The root of all this evil is part of the failure of the cadre redeployment system of the ANC. You get a third situation developing where the municipal manager is the regional chair of the ANC, so within the municipality the mayor is his boss but outside the municipality (the municipal manager) is the mayor’s boss.”
When contacted for comment, government spokesperson Themba Maseko asked Grocott’s Mail to call him after 20 minutes. When this was done, Maseko’s phone was off. The bill will be tabled in parliament to be considered for enactment.
