A high-powered team of experts has been deployed by the national government to the troubled Makana municipality to help the ailing council get its house in order.
This intervention, announced on Wednesday, will see engineers and financial experts being deployed to the Makhanda-based council.
This follows a visit to the area this week by co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) deputy minister Dr Namane Dickson Masemola and Cogta MEC Zolile Williams.
The Eastern Cape government has painted a bleak picture of operations at the troubled municipality, with Cogta provincial spokesperson Pheello Oliphant on Thursday describing the municipality as being “in tatters, in shambles, in the red, not stable and in disarray”.
Oliphant said Makana was a pure example of a “failing and collapsing municipality”.
The municipality’s debts far outweighed its available income, “with the municipality having resorted to using municipal infrastructure grant money meant to address their infrastructure challenges to pay salaries”.
Makana, with its documented service delivery challenges in recent years, including a stubborn water crisis that has threatened to collapse the university town, is one of 16 provincial municipalities flagged by the provincial government as being in financial distress.
Others are Walter Sisulu, King Sabata Dalindyebo, Kou-Kamma, Dr Beyers Naudé, Amathole district, Great Kei, Raymond Mhlaba, Amahlathi, Chris Hani district, Inxuba Yethemba, Enoch Mgijima, Sakhisizwe, Kumkani Mhlontlo, Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill.
Williams told the Bhisho legislature the situation was so dire that “projections indicate [these councils] may soon be unable to meet their financial obligations”.
As a result of their financial state, Williams said, budgets meant to service communities were being used to pay their escalating debts, with service delivery in a shambles.
On Wednesday, Williams said Makana’s administration was in “chaos”.
During his oversight visit, Masemola cited poor administration as the root cause.
“The following forces are going to be put together: an interdepartmental task team of engineers that must be on site.
“To do what? It must come and take over responsibilities in the actual management of the infrastructure programmes and the systems of this city.”
“They will take full charge of the management and the running of this municipality,” Masemola said.
On Thursday, Oliphant confirmed highly qualified engineers from the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (Misa) and water and sanitation department, as well as financial and supply chain experts from the provincial treasury and Cogta, had been deployed to help turn things around.
He said in two weeks, Masemola would return to monitor progress.
Municipal spokesperson Anele Mjekula welcomed the intervention, saying it would go a long way in addressing their many challenges.
He said that during the Wednesday meeting, challenges limiting the municipality’s ability to address service delivery, local economic development and municipal finances were discussed.
“We are positive it will yield results. The engagements throughout the session on Wednesday were honest and robust, aimed at finding solutions to the challenges the municipality is facing.
“The municipality is committed to the process and will take all the necessary steps to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved.”
In a presentation made to Masemola and Williams, Makana mayor Yandiswa Vara said the municipality was already receiving “support” from the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority and the Southern African Institute of Government Auditors in a bid to improve its dismal audit outcomes, and asset and revenue management.
Vara conceded the roads around Makana had deteriorated and “have become un-trafficable”.
Concerned Makhanda Residents said in a statement: “For too long Makana municipality has been experiencing political instability, maladministration, fraud and corruption, and service delivery collapse.
“Notwithstanding the fact that there was an unsuccessful attempt through litigation to dissolve the municipal council, the municipality continues to be a dysfunctional and a lawbreaking municipality.”
Oliphant said the National Treasury would be asked to pump in more funds in a bid to deal with Makana’s infrastructure challenges.
With the task team’s intervention, they were expecting things to improve for the better in the ailing city in six months’ time.
Daily Dispatch
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