It is time for the national government to intervene at Ditsobotla local municipality, as governance has completely collapsed.
In six years, the North West municipality has had 14 municipal managers, four mayors, four speakers. This is a result of warring ANC factions battling over power of the public purse which has left the municipality totally dysfunctional.
This week, there was a violent confrontation between municipal workers and bouncers, hired to control access to the building, allegedly by a former acting municipal manager.
As the chaos rages on, residents of Lichtenburg, Coligny and Itsoseng township, among others, are affected as their municipality cannot render services in this state.
This state saw Clover shutting down its cheese factory in Lichtenburg last year, citing poor road infrastructure, water shortages and constant power outages. That left many workers, who could not afford to relocate with the company, jobless.
The provincial government told this publication on Wednesday that it would place the municipality under administration. This municipality was placed under administration, as per section 139 of the constitution, in 2019 which was lifted after local government elections last year.
Even under administration the chaos did not stop; at some point the administrator was barred from entering the premises and a municipal manager was appointed by council. The council completely ignored the invoked section 139 and continued to operate illegally and nothing was done.
Clearly, the provincial government has failed the people of Ditsobotla. It is empowered to do so much more under section 139, including dissolving the council ensuring that budget is adopted and revenue-generating measures are in place.
What has stopped the provincial government from implementing section 139 in full? This would have led to it imposing a recovery plan which would have ensured the municipality meets its obligations of service delivery.
The people of Ditsobotla deserve a properly functioning municipality and services delivered. This is unacceptable, this matter must be treated with the seriousness and urgency it requires.
We call on the national executive to intervene now, this situation cannot be left like this.
As section 139(6) states, "if a provincial executive cannot or does not or does not adequately exercise the powers or perform the functions referred to in subsection (4) or (5), the national executive must intervene... "
It is time for the executive to act, this chaos has been going on for far too long. Stop treating the people of Ditsobotla with contempt.
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