This letter is submitted on behalf of the Makana Civil Society Coalition (MCSC), a coalition or formation of locally based NGOs and CBOs. The MCSC is not a political organisation nor affiliated to any political party.
This letter is submitted on behalf of the Makana Civil Society Coalition (MCSC), a coalition or formation of locally based NGOs and CBOs. The MCSC is not a political organisation nor affiliated to any political party.
The MCSC was formed to respond in constructive ways to the crisis in governance and service delivery failings which led to the collapse of the municipality.
It has been a key active stakeholder consulted by the Administrator in her engagement with stakeholders and in terms of her turnaround plan.
This letter is an account from the MCSC's perspective of the intervention to date and observations on the challenges faced by our distressed municipality.
When the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Eastern Cape Provincial Government) decided to place our distressed municipality under administration in terms of Section 139(1) (b) of the Constitution,the MCSC openly welcomed the announcement and publicly expressed support for the Administrator. Without going into the detail of Section 139(1) (b) intervention, the MCSC welcomes the opportunity to constructively engage with the NCOP's Select Committee on Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
The MCSC's observations prior to the Section 139(1) (b) intervention are:
1. During the past 5-10 years, the state of our municipality has rapidly deteriorated. in four consecutive financial years, the Office of the Auditor-General issued our municipality with audit disclaimers.
2. During the past two financial years, Council and the Accounting Officers did not ensure that the Budgets, lOPs, SDBIPs and Adjustment Budgets were submitted within the prescribed National Treasury time-frames.
3. Council and the Accounting Officers habitually disregarded the budgetary processes and procedures as prescribed in the MFMA and other legal prescripts.
4. During the past two financial years, Council did not ensure that municipal financial records were submitted to the Office of the Auditor-General for auditing in the prescribed time-frames.
5. During the past financial year, Council re-appointed a Municipal Manager who was implicated in unlawful conduct stemming from a previous employment contract. During this period, the municipality struggled to secure suitable candidates for the critical positions of Municipal Manager, Chief Financial Officer, Human Resources Manager and Corporate Services Director (i.e. Section 57 Employees).
6. During the past four financial years, the Section 57 Employees were awarded annual bonuses without having in place Performance Assessment Agreements (PAS). It was later established that no PAS is in place. The Auditor General reported extensively on this matter.
7. During the past 4-5 years, Makana has been faced with a serious water crisis that impacted negatively on educational institutions, business and residents. National, provincial and local media reported extensively on the crisis.
8. During the past 5-10 years, civil engineering services or infrastructure has rapidly deteriorated due to a lack of maintenance and poor management (i.e. streets, roads, storm water drainage, environmental degradation, etc);
9. During the past two financial years, the Auditor General reported extensively on the habitual financial management transgressions and the inability of Council and Accounting Officers to address unlawful financial conduct. The remedial recommendations from the Auditor-General's Reports were not implemented.
10. During the past two financial years, residents from historically disadvantaged communities engaged in service-delivery protests after submitting legitimate grievances to Council. The grievances were about alleged corrupt practices in housing, continuous water disruptions, nepotism, tender irregularities, etc. To date, Council and the administration have not responded to the grievances.
11. During the past financial year, Council and Committee meetings were not regularly convened as per the Municipal Structures Act.
12. During the past financial year, an unfinished forensic investigation into financial mismanagement and other financial misconduct was instituted. To date, the investigation is not concluded. The Administrator assured the local community that the investigation will be finalised by the end of February 2015.
13. During the past 2-3 financial years, administrative decisions involving supply chain management (tender irregularities) and town planning applications were challenged in court at considerable cost to ratepayers.
14. To conclude on the pre-intervention observations, it can be safely contended that the local community has lost confidence in the municipality for the following reasons (not exhaustive):
14.1 The Mayor who is the custodian of policy implementation within Council has failed to honour his legislated duties as specified in the Constitution, Municipal Structures and Municipal Systems Acts.
14.2. The Mayor has failed to provide the necessary political and executive leadership within Council (e.g. acting without fear or favour against recalcitrant Councillors and officials).
14.3. The Mayor and Council have failed to act on the service delivery and administrative problems that have compromised and damaged the relationship between the municipality and local community (e.g. water crisis, housing, etc).
14.4 The Mayor and Council failed to ensure that the municipality complied with the local government legal framework (e.g. MFMA, Regulations on Financial Misconduct, etc).
14.5 The Mayor and Council failed to ensure that the local community benefited from national economic policy opportunities and other strategic economic development programmes administered nationally and provincially.
14.6 The Mayor and Council have failed to foster strategic partnerships with academic institutions, business chambers, civil society, industry institutions, etc.
The Coalition and many others in Makana firmly believe that Section 139(1) (c) intervention should have been considered to address and resolve the deeply rooted political and administrative problems within our municipality.
Although the Coalition welcomed the intervention, we are not convinced the Administrator alone can rescue our distressed municipality in six months. Although the Coalition is not privy to the written agreement between the Administrator and the MEC for Cogta, the Coalition contends that the Administrator's agreement or terms of reference must be urgently reconsidered to achieve the desired turnaround around outcomes.
The intervention must be properly resourced. The focus of the intervention as explained to stakeholders is mainly to fill the key vacant positions, recover outstanding debt and to stabilise financial management.
Given the municipality's poor governance and service delivery track record, the local community is demanding rapid and sustained intervention.
The Coalition and local community want a successful result-based intervention. The Coalition is suggesting that the MEC and the NCOP's Select Committee on Cogta broaden the Administrator's terms of reference to achieve the desired results.
The Administrator must be empowered and capacitated to:
(a) Act against Councillors and officials who are not supporting the intervention;
(b) Act against recalcitrant Councillors and officials who fail to execute their constitutional and legislative duties;
(c) Act against Councillors and officials implicated in financial misconduct;
(d) To submit strict remedial measures to Council for immediate implementation; and
(e) To assist Council and administration to implement systems, mechanisms and procedures to improve good governance (i.e. to ensure that the municipality is compliant).
(f) Fill key positions without fear of political interference in order that the very best available personnel are appointed.
The above suggested actions cannot be realised under the current section 139(1) (b) intervention, which is limited.
The MEC should consider invoking section 139(1) (c). This is only possible if the MEC with support from the select committee decide to review and extend the Administrator's mandate.
The situation in Makana is dire. This isn't a hollow contention. The local community is entitled to be served by Councillors and officials who for a very long time have deprived the local community from enjoying enshrined constitutional rights.
The Coalition will continue to collaborate with the Administrator to ensure that the municipality fulfils its constitutional and legislative duties and responsibilities as spelled out in law.
The coalition and the community of Makana want an intervention plan with unambiguous intentions.
* The original letter dated 19 February 2015 was addressed to Honourable J Mohapi, MP, Chairperson of the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, ahead of the Cogta oversight visit on 25 February 2015. This version has been edited by Grocott's Mail.
