Ward 10 committee members have not been paid since last December, says Ward 10 councillor, Xolani Simakuhle.
Ward 10 committee members have not been paid since last December, says Ward 10 councillor, Xolani Simakuhle.
He says members of the ward 10 committee were to be elected in November but they got a call from the Makana Municipality Constituency Development Officer, Thanduxolo Mtimkulu two days before the election, stating that council speaker Rachel Madinda would not be able to attend the event as it coincides with her child’s birthday.
Simakuhle said that plans had gone ahead and 10 people had been elected. “I have the attendance register where it shows that the attendance included the branch of the ANC, the South African Communist Party, members of the Democratic Alliance and members of the public.”
He said that they followed the normal procedure where they forwarded the minutes and agenda of the meeting to the municipality once the selection of committee members was conducted and this usually allows a monthly stipend to be allocated to each of the committee members.
But ward 10 was not included on the list as he heard that Madinda does not recognise this ward committee. “People have suffered as they have not been paid since December last year until now, even though they are doing work for the municipality,” said Simakuhle, visibly annoyed.
He added that he had to resort to using his money to fund their petrol costs so they can do their work. “It is not up to her [Madinda] to recognise the ward committee, it is just an interference with administration,” Simakuhle said.
He said that Madinda has a history of interfering in matters of other ward operations. One of the committee members, Thengiswa Janse van Rensburg said that it was a huge problem that she was not receiving her stipend as they struggle to finance transport or purchase airtime.
She said they tried contacting the mayor, who said that it is better to talk to Madinda. Another committee member who would not like to be named, confirmed that Smakuhle informed Madinda about the ward 10 committee elections.
“The speaker said she did not have the chance to attend it, so we approached Mtimkulu who said that he was told not to attend the ward committee elections.
“The fact that we don’t receive our stipend makes me feel bad and makes us look stupid. We have to use our feet to get around, but we carry on doing our job as we are supporting the community,” she said.
Madinda informed Grocott’s Mail that all issues pertaining to this matter have been forwarded to the municipal ethics committee. She declined to comment further.
