Madibeng placed under administration

(Image: GCIS)

The municipality has been experiencing several service delivery protests in Mothotlung, Majakaneng and Hebron.

Modise said the decision to take responsibility of all the executive powers of the Madibeng council was taken after an assessment determined that the embattled municipality was dysfunctional.

Modise said the council had failed to fulfil its legislative and executive obligations in terms of the law by not reining in office bearers and/or senior management to fulfil what is required in terms of local government legislation.

"The provincial executive council has assumed the executive obligations and responsibilities, as mandated to the Municipal Manager by Section 55 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000 as well as the powers and functions allocated to the Executive Mayor in terms of section 56 of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act and vests [these] in the administrator," Modise said.

In terms of Section 139(1) (b) invoked in the municipality, the council will only exercise its powers in relation to the adoption of the annual Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget, adoption of by-laws and policies and any other matter that might be introduced by the administrator, in consultation with Exco.

Blake Mosley-Lefatola has been appointed as the administrator. He is a former HOD in the North West Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing (1996-2003); former City Manager of Tshwane and also served as a commissioner of the Fiscal and Finance Committee.

As part of the terms of his appointment, he has the responsibility to:

• Appoint an Acting Municipal Manager outside the current municipal personnel with immediate effect;
• Implement the recommendations of the minister's reports, and previous administrator's reports;
• Improve service delivery in Madibeng, prioritising water and sanitation services (including facilitation of new projects, unblocking of old projects and maintenance of infrastructure and cleaning);
• Improving the financial controls in the municipality, expenditure management, procurement processes, revenue enhancement and debt collection as well as addressing the Auditor General's reports and to ensure compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act;
• Analyse and implement recommendations of past and current investigations, commissions of inquiry and forensic audits, i.e. the Gobodo report, De Swart Vogel Myambo Attorneys report and current investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).This includes taking decisive action against implicated individuals;
• Attend to labour matters in the municipality, such as outstanding disciplinary cases, labour disputes, functionality of the Local Labour Forum, instil a culture of work and discipline among workers;
• Facilitate the improvement of governance within the council;
• Conclude the disciplinary case of previously suspended and reinstated managers, i.e. develop charges and commence with disciplinary processes;
• Investigate all recently awarded contracts to establish the validity and legitimacy thereof and terminate those that are not legitimate; and
• Ensure that criminal proceedings are finalised against any suspected officials or councillors and service providers implicated.

"We appeal to our communities to exercise restraint and not to disrupt the momentum of the intervention, which is aimed at ridding Madibeng of fraud and corruption and turning it around so that delivery of services is accelerated," said Modise.

She said the timeframe of the intervention will be for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months to ensure that there is total stability in the municipality, both at council and administration levels.

Mosley-Lefatola has strong leadership and managerial capabilities developed over a period of approximately 27 years working experience, 16 years of which were gained in the public sector, specifically at the provincial and local sphere of government and parastatals.

He had established an alternative service delivery model in the City of Tshwane and assisted in implementing a turnaround strategy for the Ekurhuleni municipality during 2009.