The Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs, through the Provincial Executive Council, has taken a
decision to dissolve the OR Tambo District Municipality council by invoking
section 139 (1) (c) of the Constitution.
The decision was taken after the Municipal council
demonstrated failure to fulfil its constitutional mandate as result of the
following:
• Failure by council to observe internal procedures – Speaker
permitted 18 expelled councillors to participate in council meetings. This is
in contravention of section 160 (3) and of the Constitution and noncompliance
of the Structure Act which deals with quorums and decisions of the council.
• On 30 June non-councillors (expelled) were permitted
to participate in the approval of budget.
• In council meetings convened by Speaker, reports that were
supposed to be presented by the Executive Mayor were presented by the Deputy Executive
Mayor and this is abnormal as it is not provided in law.
• Executive Mayor and Deputy Executive Mayor are litigating
each other both purporting to be acting in the interest of the municipality.
This ongoing litigation which is costing the municipality millions of rands
adversely affected the municipality’s duty to exercise its authority in the
best interest of community. This is in contravention of section 4 (2) (a) of
Local Government and Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000
• Failure to establish and maintain administration –
Municipal office bearers are so in disagreement, so much that it must take a court to decide who is the legitimate head of administration. This is another
failure by the municipality to establish and maintain its administration. The
crisis in the governance of the municipality has led to a situation where the
municipality spends more than R100 000 a month on VIP security for the
Chief Financial Officer.
• Complete disregard of principles of cooperative governance
– The complete disregard herein related to the Municipal Council decision to
end the section 154 support, even though the extension of the period of support
was necessary. This was considered as observation of the provisions of section
41(1)(h) of the Constitution.
• Breach of Code of Conduct applicable to councillors – The
OR Tambo District Municipality has seriously been compromised by the conduct of
its public office bearers. The incident of 29 June 2021 is an example
where the Speaker and the Executive Mayor circulated two conflicting memoranda
in the municipality, regarding the return of the late Municipal Manager Mr
Hlazo. The Executive Mayor advised the staff that the Municipal Manager has
resumed his duties and the Speaker issued a memo disputing Executive Mayor’s
memorandum. This demonstrated the breach of Item 2(b) of the Code of Conduct
applicable to councillors which requires that a councillor must at all times
act in the best interest of the municipality and in such a way that the
credibility and integrity of the municipality is not compromised.
• Failure to demonstrate commitment to the objective of the
local government by the OR Tambo District Municipality – The notice reminded
the municipality that it must at all times demonstrate its commitment to the
objectives of local government as stipulated in section 152 of the
Constitution. In terms of section 19 (1) of the Structures Act a municipality
must strive within its capacity to achieve objectives set out in section 152 of
the Constitution. A similar provision is found in section 23 (1) of the Systems
Act in terms of which, a municipality must undertake developmentally oriented
planning so as to achieve the objectives of local government set out in section
152 of the Constitution.
On 8 July 2021, the Provincial Executive Council
directed COGTA MEC, Xolile Nqatha, to write to the Speaker and Executive Mayor
requesting them to provide reasons why section 139 (1) (c) of the constitution
may not be invoked in the municipality and request them to respond within
fourteen working days.
On 9 July 2021 the notices of intention to invoke
section 139 (1) (c) of the Constitution in the affairs of the OR Tambo
District Municipality were issued by MEC Nqatha and were delivered to both
Speaker and Executive Mayor as directed by the Provincial Executive Council.
Both Speaker and Executive Mayor gave contrary responses.
MEC Nqatha will send a technical team, led by a seasoned
administrator, which will work tirelessly to bring the much-needed stability in
the municipality. The decision will remain mute for 14 days before practical
implementation.
