While the opposition in Makana Municipality is not surprised their motions to have the Mayor and Speaker removed from office on Friday 26 September were heavily outvoted, they have expressed outrage that the Kabuso Report remains on Council’s confidential agenda.
While the opposition in Makana Municipality is not surprised their motions to have the Mayor and Speaker removed from office on Friday 26 September were heavily outvoted, they have expressed outrage that the Kabuso Report remains on Council’s confidential agenda.
And as reports suggested the new administrator could arrive as soon as today, Wednesday 1 October, Mayor Zamuxolo Peter is at pains to stress that being under administration “does not mean a complete takeover”.
Peter, who arrived at Friday’s Council meeting on crutches, began his opening address by offering his sincere apologies for new water outages.
“Let’s sweep our own yards,” he told an audience of 25 councillors, officials, media and members of the public.
His call followed Speaker Rachel Madinda-Isaac’s reference to the recent Local Government Presidential Summit, themed “Back to Basics”.
The Mayor’s injury was the result of a soccer match, he told Grocott’s Mail before Friday’s meeting.
He’ll be off work for the next few weeks – but he’s still firmly in office, as is Madinda-Isaac. Motions to have them removed from office with a vote of no confidence were outvoted 19 to 6 in both cases.
ANC Chief Whip, Councillor Julia Wells, gave the first hint of a theme that would gather momentum during the day, made explicit at the party caucus’s media briefing later: If there had ever been cracks in the local party structures, they were not going to show.
Rejecting the motions outright, Wells said if there were any wrongdoing in local government, everyone in the municipality must be held accountable. Also, she said, the charges against Peter and Madinda-Isaac had not been fully investigated.
Grocott’s Mail last year revealed that documents in our possession named both in connection with former municipal manager Pravin Naidoo’s unauthorised settlement bid last year.
“We knew it would be that way,” Democratic Alliance leader in the Makana Council Les Reynolds said, following Friday’s Council meeting. "We knew we would be outvoted, but as opposition we had to do that.” He was at pains to stress that the effort to oust them was political not personal.
"Both the Speaker and the Mayor are very nice people,” he said.
The DA were less philosophical about the fate of the Kabuso Report, however. “You have to wonder about accountability,” was all Reynolds would say.
Reynolds earlier was rapped over the knuckles for his remark quoted in Grocott’s Mail on 19 September.
Commenting on the delay in appointing a chief financial officer – seen as crucial to putting the municpality back on track – he said Council had not been informed that the position had been offered to Paul Mahlasela. Mahlasela is the former CFO of Ngqushwa local municipality in Peddie.
The CFO position has been vacant for almost a year since Danny Sahibdeen resigned. Meanwhile, the Mayor is emphatic that going under administration “does not mean a complete takeover”.
“It’s a strategic and logistical intervention,” he said on Friday.
In the video below, Councillor Julia Wells, ANC Chief Whip in the Makana Council, tells Grocott's Mail's Sue Maclennan why she believes residents should get serious about paying their municipal bills.
Listen to the question, watch the video and decide for yourself.
(Video taken on Friday 26 September, following the Council meeting and ANC caucus briefing).
