The DA in Msunduzi welcomes the immediate appointment of the new Msunduzi administrator, Mr Martin Sithole, following the sudden resignation of the previous administrator.
A week after the DA had called on the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) to urgently intervene, an engagement was held between CoGTA and National Treasury in terms of the extension of Section 139(1) b intervention in the municipality.
Understanding that a new Administrator has been deployed, and that further interventions are being considered, the DA has written to KwaZulu-Natal CoGTA MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, to request answers and to recommend the following:
1. Will the previous Administrator, Mr Scelo Duma, be addressing the Msunduzi Council with his closed report and officially handover?
2. It is fundamentally imperative that Section 139(5) of the Constitution, read with MFMA’s 139 (mandatory intervention), is considered with the recommendation that National Treasury are deployed to the Municipality to implement a Financial Recovery Plan.
The above is to emphasize the importance of having intervention from National Government in terms of a neutral position to execute responsibilities without Political Interference from the Province (which has been the challenge at present).
3. As per the requests on behalf of the Democratic Alliance in the presentation by COGTA/National Treasury, we would like your written response to our plea for the SIU (Special Investigations Unit) to be deployed to investigate the unresolved Forensic Investigations and Criminal Elements that have consumed this Municipality for far too long without any end in sight.
Following our previous engagement with CoGTA, the Democratic Alliance is in full support of the positive response that is going to ensure that this City is relieved from this downward spiral of decay.