ISSUE 215 - FREE
15
MARCH 2019
COMMUNITY NEWS. ORIGINAL - ACCURATE - FIRST
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
No end to storms surrounding mayor The storm surrounding the Mayor, Cllr Thandi Ngxonono, just don’t want to settle. Several parties are calling for her removal as well as from within her own party structures. Opposition parties called for a special council meeting as per the Standing Orders of the council to discuss a motion of No Confidence in the Mayor, but the speaker has ignored all requests using every excuse available to do so. Removal of the Mayor will also mean that the current Mayoral Committee will disband. Certain items of the council have to serve before council as legislation requires. It is with these items in mind that the speaker has now called for a Special Council Meeting on Tuesday, 12 March. Opposition parties have vowed to stick to their initial decision of not supporting council until their requests are taken seriously. The so-called G9 councillors (disgruntled ANC councillors) have now once again decided that their own demands are not met and their own party is not taking them seriously. The consequences of not complying with the legislative requirements are that the municipality might be placed under administration. If this happens the Mayor and the MMC’s will all revert back to being normal councillors. The Mayor is in the middle of an assault case where it is alleged that she, Cllr Thandi Ngxonono, assaulted one of the officials of Govan Mbeki. She appeared in court again on 5 March, standing accused of assaulting a municipal employee in 2018. The case has been postponed for the fourth time since October last year, this time due to recording equipment in the courtroom that was out of order. The DA, according to Caucus leader Ciska Jordaan, is unsatisfied that this
case will continue to hang over the head of the Executive Mayor and inevitably of the municipality as it has been ongoing for months on end. “Not only does it reflect poorly on the municipality, but also does it shift the focus of the ill-led ANC from the municipal services that are due to the residents of Govan Mbeki; proving that the majority party does not care about the wellbeing of our communities. Residents of Govan Mbeki will continue to suffer from the internal squabbles of the ANC and under the allegedly abusive Executive Mayor who clearly continues to abuse the powers of her office.” says Ciska. “The right thing for the ANC to do would be to deal with the motion of no confidence that has
been submitted by the Democratic Alliance in January and supported by other opposition parties. Sadly, however, the ANC appears to want to postpone this motion as well until the end of days.” “The lack of accountability and responsibility of the ANC and in particular the Mayor is worrying to all opposition parties but even more so for the DA,” said Ciska. “The DA will continue to fight for accountability and hold the ANC responsible for the actions and the injustices they force upon the residents of GMM.” In yet another protest march against the poor service delivery that GMM is famous for, several residents from Holfontein and Tweedraai
communities, just outside of Trichardt, marched peacefully to the municipality on Friday, 8 March, demanding service delivery from the Executive Mayor. “The DA takes note with concern that neither the Executive Mayor nor any of her mayoral committee even showed up to receive the memorandum that was presented by the community,” said Ciska Jordaan. ”These communities have been without services for years and are continuously ignored by the municipality.” In a response to a question to the Executive Mayor written by Ward Councillor Ciska Jordaan: “It is unsatisfactorily indicated that the municipality has no plans to supply temporary service delivery to these communities since they will apparently be moving them to allocated land next to Adullam.” However, shockingly, a site visit by the Cllr Ciska Jordaan and The Bulletin to the area revealed an open field which has clearly not had any feet on it for quite some time, much less any kind of construction or slight indication of preparation for housing these communities. The DA has been attempting to highlight the severe concerns of these communities who are continuously ignored in the proposed IDP, regardless of the DA Ward Councillor’s constructive submissions since 2016. “Residents have been without proper access to water, sanitation and electricity for years. This is no dignified way to live. “As the DA we will continue to call upon the Municipality to take serious cognisance of the residents that it serves and expose the ANC for the undignified living circumstances they impose on the residents of Holfontein and Tweedraai communities in Ward 25,” said Ciska.
Members of the Mayoral Committee. FLTR: CLLRs BB Ndaba, NN Zulu, MD Nhlapo, NE Nkosi, SA Makhaye and S Mahlangu