The post of municipal manager is not a politicised position, says Regional Secretary of the African National Congress Scara Njadayi.
The post of municipal manager is not a politicised position, says Regional Secretary of the African National Congress Scara Njadayi.
Grocott’s Mail this week asked the ANC and the DA to comment on whether there was political interest in the case of former Makana councillor Paul Notyawa, who has taken his claim to the post of municipal manager to court.
Notyawa appeared in the high court in Grahamstown on Tuesday 7 March.
DA Makana caucus leader Mlindi Nhanha says, in contrast, that the fact that concurrence by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa was sought (and denied) in the process of Notyawa’s appointment in the post of municipal manager in early 2015 is an indication of political interference.
Notyawa lodged court papers last month that seek to have the court declare he was lawfully appointed in the post of municipal manager on 12 March 2015. Respondents in the matter are Makana Municipality, the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape and former administrator in Makana Municipality, Pam Yako.
Advocate Izak Smuts briefed by attorney Brin Brody of Wheeldon Rushmere & Cole appeared for Notyawa on Tuesday.
The case was stood down on the basis that responding papers from Makana Municipality and Cogta were only received in the courtroom on Tuesday.
On their return, the case was adjourned to 30 March, with the proviso that everything required for the case must be in court before that date.
Costs would also be argued during the adjourned sitting.
Present in the courtroom were three councillors from Makana Municpality, as well as ANC subregional secretary Andile Hoyi.
“Our interest is because Makana is sitting without an MM,” Hoyi told Grocott’s Mail afterwards.
“A municipality without an accounting officer cannot function properly.”
Hoyi would not be drawn into answering whether the case had assumed political importance for the ANC or whether it reflected divisions within the party at local level, and referred the question to Njadayi.
“I am not aware of any divisions in the ANC,” Njadayi said in a subsequent telephone interview.
He said the Region would be briefed by the leadership of the ANC in Makana about the case in time.
“But we are not a respondent in the case and so have no material interest.
“Our focus is to see to it the process of employing a municipal manager is completed.”
Njadayi said the post was not politicised.
“The post of MM is an administrative post,” Njadayi said. “The MM is accountable to the Mayor. The Mayor is accountable to Council.
“People are employed regardless of their political affiliation. However, they are required to understand the policies of the organisation because their mandate is derived from the policy position of the ANC in Makana.
“It is not a prerequisite that the person be an ANC member, but they must understand the mandate of the ANC, as well as take cognisance of other parties’ inputs.”
Asked why no DA councillors were present at the case, given its importance to Makana, Nhanha said, “Indeed none of the DA Councillors attended the case because our view is that it’s an ANC internal matter backfiring.
"Of course we are an interested party. Should Paul Notyawa wins the case, someone should carry the cost and in this regard we’ll be watching this space closely.
“DA councillors objected to the municipality defending this matter and we individually placed on the record that should any costs arise from this litigation, we cannot be held liable. By the conclusion of Notywa’s case, there is a good chance that we’ll have two MMs and one of them must be bought out in millions of rands we don’t have.”
Nhanha claims the post does have a political component. More often than not, the ANC employs people based on the rank or position they hold in the party or how well connected that person is within the party,” Nhanha said. “Political affiliation should have no bearing at all in the employment of administrators. We continue to lose competent people to the private sector and countries abroad because of this unjust practice.
“This explains, why, we are so successful in the Western Cape Metros including municipalities.
“The fact of the matter is Paul Notyawa was employed by Council through a resolution. Only later did the MEC for Local Government, a minister and her deputy from national government and ANC bigwigs in Calata House prevail on the ANC caucus to rescind that resolution.
“The DA's stance is on principle, in terms of the law, Council is the employer based on the recommendations of the panel.
“Concurrence from the MEC is interference in matters of the sphere of government and should not allowed. They employed him and they must live with it,” Nhanha said.
"By the conclusion of former Makana councillor Paul Notyawa’s case, there is a good chance that the municipality will have two municipal managers – and one of them must be bought out in millions of rands we don’t have."
Notyawa in his papers seeks to have the court declare that he was lawfully appointed in the post on 12 March, and to compel Makana Municipality to conclude the necessary written employment contract “with effect from 1 April 2015, with full salary and benefits”.
The court papers document various meetings with ANC leadership at regional, provincial and national level, culminating in a meeting with Water and Sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane and former strategic manager in Makana Mncedisi Boma, who was fired in August 2014 after a disciplinary committee found him guilty of misconduct.
The papers claim pressure from ANC leadership to withdraw his appointment.
Emphasising the lack of political interference in local government, however, Njadayi said there were many areas in which the ruling party and opposition parties overlapped in terms of policy formulation.
“Where there are gross differences, we require that the chief whip of the ANC engages with the chief whip of the opposition.
“For example, when there was conflict about the election of certain ward committees in Makana, as the Region, we advised the local leadership to choose a path of reconciliation.
"We said they should sit down and resolve it, for the whole thing not to stifle service delivery."
Njadayi said the focus of the ANC in the Region was preparation of its branches for the upcoming provincial and national conferences.
“We are conducting political education workshops leading to policy discussions,” Njadayi said.
“Land is a big issue in our [ANC] region. Sarah Baartman is very much affected by it."
Under discussion also would be the current interpretation of Radical Economic Transformation, he said.
