A series of local government interventions – announced yesterday by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) CoGTA MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi – have again demonstrated that while the MEC is quick to act against municipalities not governed by the ANC, she has a massive blind spot when it comes to mismanagement within ANC-run municipalities.
As the ANC’s term of governance comes to an end in KZN, the actions of its provincial executive, and in particular, KZN CoGTA MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi, become increasingly bizarre and concerning.
Yesterday, it appeared that that the MEC had woken from her slumber only long enough to fully turn CoGTA into a campaign tool, through a series of irrational decisions that weaponize this important department for a dying ANC.
While the DA agrees that municipalities such as Mpofana and Umkhanyakude should remain under administration, the MECs actions in Msunduzi, Umhlatuze and Umzumbe are irrational.
According to the MEC, Msunduzi is ready to be taken out of administration. This, from the same MEC who agreed with the DA that the municipality’s multi-million-rand sponsorship of a soccer team is senseless. Meanwhile, numerous reports show that the situation in our provincial capital has worsened rather than improved – including a deteriorated finding by the Auditor-General (AG).
One also only has to speak to Msunduzi’s long-suffering residents to know that with a collapsing infrastructure, a lack of services and alarming financial status, there is no way that the MEC can justify lifting the Section 139 intervention.
The only possible reason for the irrational move is that the ANC is desperate for a ‘good story to tell’ ahead of the high-stakes election. But the MEC will discover at the polls that KZN’s people – and those living within Msunduzi – no longer fall for the ANC’s smoke and mirrors sideshow.
The Umzumbe matter is equally concerning. While the DA acknowledges that there are serious challenges, we question the MEC’s motives for placing this municipality under administration.
Recently, a number of ANC councillors resigned, with the party now having lost a lot of ground. To top it off, the MEC then failed to call by-elections, with the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday ruling that she had acted unconstitutionally by failing to do so.
That the MEC – almost immediately after this ruling – then tries to circumvent democratic processes by instituting a Section 139 intervention in Umzumbe is a slap in the face to its residents. Yet again, she is not acting in the best interest of this community and only cares about her ANC and its cronies.
The ANC knows that they will lose any by-elections in Umzumbe and ultimately lose control of the municipality, which is why they are using CoGTA to try to stay in power.
Then there are the MEC’s attempts to gain some form of control over the now functional Umhlatuze municipality. Eighteen months after the municipality made changes to the number of Exco members – and after the MEC failed to mount a strong legal challenge to this – she has now approached the High Court to make a ruling on the constitutionality of the council’s actions.
Despite the MEC’s dismal track record when it comes to court cases, she is unwilling to wait for the ruling. Instead, she and KZN’s ANC provincial executive have issued a directive under Section 139(1)(a) to the municipality in a bid to force them to reverse their decision.
The only reason for this is to get her ANC comrades seats on Exco, not only for the bigger salaries but also to destabilize a municipality recently named as the third best secondary city in the country.
Like the last kicks of a dying horse, MEC Sithole-Moloi and her ANC cronies are doing everything in their power to hold onto control – even if it means using the state to do so. The DA strongly rejects the MECs modus operandi as well as her irrational decisions. We call on her to reverse them in the interests of the people within these communities and our province as a whole.
When KZN’s people go to the polls on 29 May, they will have the opportunity to remove this MEC, along with an entire incompetent Taliban faction ANC provincial executive, and vote for stability, prosperity and progress in our province.