Administration to remain
Mpumalanga Executive Council is very pleased with the progress of municipalities .
MBOMBELA – The Bushbuckridge Local Municipality will remain under administration until it is back on its feet.
This was announced by the MEC for health, Mr Gillion Mashego during a cabinet briefing last week.
He said that both the Bushbuckridge and Emalahleni local municipalities, which were placed under administration in 2013 by the former MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Mr Simon Skhosana, will operate under the watchful eye of their allocated administrators until government is convinced they can cope on their own.
He said the Mpumalanga Executive Council held its meeting earlier last week where it indicated its satisfaction about the state of these municipalities.
“After the council’s meeting it was noted that the state of the two municipalities has shown improvement and the council is very pleased with the progress made thus far but conceded that there were still a few leadership and administrative matters to be resolved in both municipalities before the interventions can be lifted,” said Mashego.
He went on and alluded the council for approving the extension of the intervention to afford the municipalities time to prepare for a seamless transition, which included the filling of critical posts.
Last year, Skhosana introduced Mr Theo Jansen van Vuuren to the Emalahleni Local Municipality as their new administrator following the Provincial Executive Council’s decision to put this municipality under administration in terms of Section 139 (1) (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No108 of 1996).
This is after Skhosana was not satisfied with the performance and the state of affairs that had crippled the municipality on its constitutional mandate to ensure the provision of basic service.
Some of the problems faced by the municipality included inconsistent water supply, poor state of municipal infrastructure like roads, electricity and waste-water treatment plants, allegations of high level of engagement in corrupt activities by some officials and high costs of doing business with the municipality by external service providers.
In April last year, Skhosana – after placing the Bushbuckridge under administration – introduced Mr Martin Sithole as the new administrator.
