Provincial departments are hastening the financial collapse of Eastern Cape municipalities, by failing to pay close to a billion rand owed for services rendered. At a time when our economy is in crisis, the cost of living is spiralling upwards and municipal collection rates have been decimated, it is utterly irresponsible of provincial departments to expect local government to carry millions of rands in debt. In response to a parliamentary …
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Serious questions must be asked of the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, who has given notice of his intent to expand the geographic area of the Amatola Water Board to cover the entire Eastern Cape. Minister Mchunu published his intention in a government gazette earlier this week, calling for comments within the next 60 days. Download gazette Appointing the Amatola Water Board to service the entire Eastern Cape …
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There is not a single permanent employee employed by the Koukamma municipality to address the municipality’s collapsing roads infrastructure, despite this being a vital aspect of the municipality’s core functions and responsibilities. The municipality should consider entering into Public Private Partnerships to enable them to secure the prerequisite skills to tackle the road maintenance and repair backlog. It will also be vital that adequate funding be put in place to …
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New COGTA MEC, Zolile Williams, has missed a golden opportunity to serve the people of Nelson Mandela Bay and bring stability back to the Metro, by choosing to put the interests of his party over those of the people. Instead of lambasting his own party councillors for their abhorrent behaviour on the day, the new COGTA MEC chose to classify a democratic process as “worrisome”. What appears to be worrisome …
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The collective debt owed to Eskom by Eastern Cape municipalities is spiralling out of control and is fast approaching the R3 billion mark. Money collected from residents and businesses for electricity that must be paid to Eskom must be ringfenced by municipalities. The failure to do so will result in collapsing electrical infrastructure and hardship to residents and businesses alike. The DA in the Eastern Cape will be writing to …
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The DA has seen first-hand how residents of the Eastern Cape have had their dignity stripped away from them by the wanton abuse of power and maladministration of local government. For the past two weeks myself and Shadow MEC for Finance, Retief Odendaal, have been visiting Eastern Cape local municipalities that have been identified as being in distress during a recent presentation to the National Portfolio Committee of Cooperative Governance …
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The DA is calling for an urgent special council meeting to elect a new mayor and whip of council and deal with the unlawful budget so that the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality (DBNM) can stabilise after municipal officials, including the municipal manager, have allegedly called for an illegal “tools down” strike. This rogue municipality has not just broken the law, it is now defying the law! The open defiance of …
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A motion brought by the Democratic Alliance calling for the implementation of a Water Security Master Plan for each Eastern Cape Municipality has spurred the EC Legislature to act on the water crisis. The Kouga Local Municipality and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipalities have already started running out of water. This is disastrous as households, businesses, schools and hospitals will be left to function without water and sanitation, which will …
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Democratic Alliance Members of the Provincial Legislature will be embarking on a targeted oversight of distressed municipalities in the Eastern Cape to get first-hand accounts of these municipalities’ challenges. Using the information gathered from these oversights and working closely with the DA councillors in these municipalities, we will identify key turnaround strategies that could be implemented to bring stability. We will also develop tailor-made support and focus initiatives for each …
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The Democratic Alliance welcomes that as part of the Report of the Portfolio Committee of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs today, the committee recommended that a section 106 intervention be implemented in the Inxuba Yethemba, Engcobo and Enoch Mgijima Local Municipalities on the basis that widespread fraud, corruption, and maladministration is suspected in these municipalities. In terms of a section 106 intervention, the MEC may designate a person/s to investigate …
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