BELFAST – Over the past 12 months residents of the eMakhazeni Local Municipality (ELM) got the short end of the stick when conflict within the municipality resulted in numerous strikes leaving the community without service delivery for weeks.
Not being able to put an end to “the man-made problem that could have been prevented,” as the mayor of ELM,
Cllr Xolani Sydney Ngwenya described the situation, the Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) finally stepped in to rescue four Highveld towns from complete collapse.
Within mere days municipal workers returned to work and things went back to normal. Residents of Machadodorp, Belfast, Dullstroom and Waterval Boven could finally heave a sigh of relief as service delivery was a priority again.
It was, however, the sudden resignation of ELM’s municipal manager, Ms Thandi Shoba, who was said to be one of the greatest contributors to the municipality’s internal chaos due to her alleged lack of qualifications, that had raised many eyebrows.
Shortly after Cogta’s intervention, Shoba announced her resignation, stating that it was due to personal reasons.
Ngwenya denied that it had anything to do with Cogta’s intervention. “Shoba left due to personal reasons which is the right of every person. It has nothing to do with problems in ELM,” he said.
In the meanwhile, Ms Lizzie Tshabalala took over the reins and would serve as acting municipal manager for three months.
Ngwenya said ELM’s management requested Cogta’s mediation after numerous attempts to discuss issues with the workers had failed.
According to him, Cogta picked up elements of lawlessness in the municipality and encouraged management to go back to ELM’s own structures and approach the CCMA, bargaining councils and even the Labour Court if the problems persisted.
He, however, said the municipality’s management and organised labour were finally able to sit around the table to discuss issues.
Ngwenya also acknowledged ELM’s financial dilemma and admitted they were struggling. “Finances are a problem at the municipality. Our revenue basis is very low as the doors of the municipality have been shut for three months and no money has been collected. The strikes affected the municipality without a doubt extremely negatively and we are most definitely struggling.”
Ngwenya said that although they did not blame the community for the municipality’s financial state, they did need its support as they relied on its payments. “We want to apologise to each and every member of the community who has been affected during the strikes, but urge them to support us in this difficult time. In order for services to be sustainable and accelerated we depend on the payment of community.”
Ngwenya said although the municipality had its issues, it never thought that it would find itself in such situation.
“People can’t be happy about the municipality. The fact of matter is that this is a man-made problem and that it could have been prevented. The struggle of the municipality is not something to be proud of but we are doing our utmost to prevent services from being interrupted again.”
