Most of the ANC senior councillors in charge of the Enoch Mgijima municipality, which grabbed headlines this week for its shabby R15m “sports filed”, top the party’s candidates’ list for re-election next month.
Seven of the nine mayoral committee members, appear on the party’s list with chief whip Nombuyiselo Ndlebe at number 1 and current mayor Luleka Gubula taking the 23rd spot.
This means they will be back in council for another five years unless the ANC, which won 73% of the vote in the last local government elections, sheds electoral support to below 50%.
The party currently holds 50 of the 68 seats in council, the DA has nine , the EFF and other smaller parties share the remaining seats.
Next month’s poll will see also new entrants vying for power, such as Ken Clark, owner of soft drink company Twizza, who is standing as mayoral candidate independently.
The Eastern Cape-based municipality was thrust into the national spotlight this week after its Lesseyton sports field near Komani generated outrage when the ANC-led municipality shared pictures of the ribbon-cutting ceremony during its unveiling.
The grass has brown patches, the steel poles do not have nets, steel grandstands and the white marking on the pitch is not clear.
During a visit to the area on Thursday, MEC of corporative governance Xolile Nqatha said he had given the speaker of council Bongiwe van Heerden 48 hours to prepare a report on what action would be taken against the councillors, including Gubula for bringing the municipality into disrepute.
“Even though I am not a technical expert, from what I see, there is no value for money here. There is every reason for people to be outraged. I am totally outraged. This is wastage and it reaffirms our correctness as provincial government to take a decision to investigate as to what happened here and whether due processes were followed or not,” Nqatha said.
Should the speaker fail to do so, Nqatha claimed, he would step in to enforce accountability.
Nqatha labelled the dusty sports field a “suspected crime scene”.
However, it is highly unlikely that councillors would be held accountable, even if found to have broken the rules.
This was because the term of the current council ends on November 1st, the day of the municipal election, which would give the speaker only three weeks to enforce any sanction deemed appropriate.
Cooperative governance spokesperson Mamkeli Ngam told Sowetan on Thursday that Nqatha would not have much impact because whatever action that could be taken would only apply to the current term ending this month, and that implicated councillors would be starting on a clean slate should they be re-elected.
However, later in the day he changed tune, saying while an investigation would follow and a possible criminal investigation ensue against those found to have had part in the bogus stadium contract, those who returned as councillors could face disciplinary action.
“The investigation is going to continue. If the councillor is still in the fold, he or she must be able to answer for himself,” Ngam said.
DA MPL and constituency leader in the area Jane Cowley said the party would reach out to Nqatha to discuss possible charges and disciplinary punishment that could be meted against implicated council employees and companies.
On Thursday, she did an oversight inspection of the field with DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille.
“The DA will insist on a full forensic audit into this project and other municipal projects, which have failed dismally. I will also write to the EC MEC for CoGTA to establish what protocols are in place to criminally charge party officials, administrators and service providers who collude to milk municipal coffers dry for self-enrichment,” she said.
Cowley said the field was an insult to the community of Lesseyton. “The so-called stadium is little more than scaffolding, the field is dry and hard, and the rugby poles have collapsed. The changing-room facilities also have no running water and, therefore, cannot be used.
Lindiwe Sisulu, minister of tourism, also visited several wards in Lesseyton on election campaign on Thursday but shied away from the issue.
Municipal spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa and municipal manager Nokuthula Zondani’s phones rang unanswered on Thursday.
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