DA request intervention into Mbombela municipality
A motion to force the executive mayor of Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) to request an intervention into its finances has been entered.
It will be tabled to council during its next ordinary meeting scheduled for Thursday February 27.
Mr Werner le Grange, DA councillor and parliamentary hopeful, entered the motion.
He laid the blame for the state of Mbombela at the feet of Cllr Cathy Dlamini and her executive, saying their lack of political and managerial leadership was the reason for the municipality's dismal financial performance.
The DA plans to prepare a comprehensive body of evidence supporting the proposal for cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Mr Simon Skhosana to conduct an appropriate intervention in terms of Section 139 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
As previously reported, MLM's financial statements and Auditor General report revealed oversight committees were not sitting; money was being lost to unauthorised, irregular and wasteful expenditure; R123 million in rollovers were being withheld from Mbombela failing to appoint a chief financial officer; council was not provided with quarterly financial reports; and ineffective supply-chain management contributed to the slow pace of service delivery.
Le Grange said they believed they could succeed if they could vote for the motion in a secret ballot, due to the unhappiness of ANC councillors with the executive. "I would say all councillors are unhappy because service-delivery projects are simply not being implemented," he said.
Last year Cogta intervened in Mbombela when it launched an investigation into its financial affairs and governance. Little has come of it, except that the municipal manager Mr Xolani Mzobe was suspended, allegedly relating to issues surrounding last year's Afcon tournament.
To date, council had not received the expenditure reports of the tournament that ended a year ago from either MLM or Cogta. Despite this, Le Grange explained that approaching this department to intervene was the only option available to councillors to effect change in the municipality at this stage