With reference to your headline “Bay Ward election chaos” (Weekend Post, October 8) the Democratic Alliance has tabled a motion in the Provincial Legislature for the annulment of certain ward committee elections in the province.
The motion tabled by me in September was accepted for debate.
It is hoped that the motion will be debated at the “Taking Legislature to the People” in Cofimvaba this week.
My motion seeks to have all ward committee elections that did not take place in accordance with section 73 (3) of the Municipal Structures Act declared null and void.
Furthermore I have motioned that those ward members who were irregularly paid any stipend for serving as members pay the money back to the relevant municipality.
This section of the act states that a council must make rules and regulate how ward committee elections will take place.
This is the problem.
Many wards in the Nelson Mandela Metro and elsewhere in the province have simply gone ahead and willy-nilly elected members to serve on ward committees without following this due process.
It is imperative that as politicians we are custodians of transparent oversight.
If the DA motion is defeated we will refer this matter to the Public Protector and Auditor General departments respectively.
It is vital that the rule of law and the provisions of our Constitution are protected.
This cowboy-like action of hashing up quick ward committee elections in the Metro and elsewhere is unacceptable in a democratic state like South Africa and the DA will ensure that everyone’s rights in this regard are protected.
Yours faithfully
Dacre Haddon
DA provincial spokesperson on local government
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