BASIL Mase has been introduced as the administrator of the now dissolved O.R. Tambo District Municipality council.
Introducing Mase, on August 23, Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Xolile Nqatha, said he had full confidence in Mase’s leadership qualities as an experienced bureaucrat with requisite expertise.
Mase will now take full responsibilities of the executive mayor, the municipal council and the accounting officer until a new council is in place, said MEC Nqatha. The meeting was attended by the senior management of O.R. Tambo District Municipality, Provincial Treasury, Provincial COGTA, Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) and representatives from the trade unions, Imatu and Samwu.
“This is the decision of the executive council and it was a difficult decision to arrive at and was taken after all our best efforts had failed. Basic services like the provision of water have collapsed to the detriment of the people; hence our decision is to serve the interest of the people,” said Nqatha.
He encouraged all internal stakeholders to work together as professionals to stabilise the institution and turn things around to benefit the people.
“Administrators have a professional responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the intervention and avoid serving the factional interest of certain politicians. Many good people have suffered dearly and lost their livelihoods; hence we must make a commitment to ethical leadership as a key ingredient to good governance,” said Nqatha.
Mase said the intervention is a “period of anxiety” for all of us; henceforward we will set common goals working with all the three spheres of government to address challenges.
“For the success of the intervention we appeal for constructive engagement with key stakeholders including National Treasury in the spirit of co-operative governance. This is a legal process approved by the NCOP and we must protect its integrity,” said Mase.
Members of the senior management in the municipality voiced their support for the intervention to restore the work ethic which has vanished in the institution.
– ISSUED BY THE EASTERN CAPE DEPARTMENT OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS (COGTA)
