Parliament, Friday, 4 September 2020 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has told Msunduzi Local Municipality that it is aware of all the negative publicity around it, in particular the numerous negative reports about the municipality’s waste management.
The committee is also aware of the reports of intimidation of Auditor-General senior management and staff during the audit of the municipality’s finances.
The committee told Msunduzi’s executive mayor, Mr Mzimkhulu Thebolla, that Msunduzi’s security costs during the previous financial year, including those relating to the hiring of bodyguards for councillors, amounted to R80 million. Apart from eThekwini, no other municipality in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) paid this much for security services. “This is an exorbitant amount and is harmful to the municipality’s cost-containment efforts,” said the Chairperson of the committee, Ms Faith Muthambi.
The committee interacted with KZN’s MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Office of the Auditor-General, the South African Local Government Association and the Department of Cooperative Governance on the status of Msunduzi Local Municipality, and the status of all municipalities under Section 139 in the province
The committee is also concerned that in some instances the municipality allocated bodyguards to councillors without the South African Police Services conducting a threat and risk analysis. Current legislation decrees that only executive mayors, mayors and speakers are entitled to two bodyguards.
Msunduzi flouted these requirements and set aside R27.5 million to allocate six bodyguards to the mayor, two bodyguards to the deputy mayor and 58 bodyguards to 15 councillors.
These are some of the issues contributing towards Msunduzi becoming the subject of intervention in terms of Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution. Ms Muthambi said: “We are concerned about these interventions, as cases of successful recovery are rare. The previous 139(1)(b) intervention invoked in Msunduzi in October 2010 clearly did not bear fruit.”
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, MS FAITH MUTHAMBI.
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Name: Sureshinee Govender
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 2239
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E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
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