Councillor ‘vindicated’ after court declares municipal manager’s appointment unlawful

The recent secondment of the acting Municipal Manager, Joseph Ramokatane Mogale, of Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality (RMLM) in Zeerust was set aside by Mahikeng High Court, North West.

This comes after a member of RMLM council from Forum For Democrats (FFD), Thabiso Morebantwa took the cash-strapped municipality to court alleging that the processes to second Mogale were flawed. The verdict was reserved after a court set a week ago, it was released yesterday.

Court order

The court ordered that the secondment/appointment be set aside and that the respondents are ordered to pay the costs of the application.

“In the premises, the appointment of Joseph Mogale by NW MEC of local government is declared unlawful. It is axiomatic that the Special Council Meeting of 15 November 2022 approving the appointment of Mogale also falls to be set aside. It follows that the appointment of Mogale by the former MEC Linah Miga is reviewed and set aside,” the court ordered.

Former MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) Linah Miga wrote a letter on the 9th of November 2022 granting the request by the municipality to appoint an acting municipal manager. His contract is from 10 November 2022 to 31 January 2023.

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Vindication

Morebantwa said that he and his party felt vindicated following their victorious court outcome, “I feel vindicated. I am excited because this proves that we have always been right. We are not against any individual per se, we are against unlawlessness.

“We do not care if the municipal manager hails from around our municipality or outside, we are more concerned with the application of the Constitution. We need the Constitution to be used and then a competent person be appointed, that’s all,” Morebantwa said.

Decisions need to be challenged

According to Morebantwa, the decisions which were made under Mogale would need to be challenged at the court, and be set aside too.

“If we do not legally challenge the decisions made by the person who sat in the office of the municipal manager in an unlawful manner then those decisions will stand hence we need to legally stand against such unlawful decisions by the unlawful incumbent,” he added.

When approached for a comment, the RMLM mayor Dina Pitso, said that she was giving the matter attention, “the matter is receiving attention and will be addressed in due course.”

Lack of information

Another councillor, Alfred Nyamane, from RMLM said he was not happy because they were not informed or called for a meeting regarding this ongoing litigation.

“There was supposed to be a Special Council meeting to discuss this issue because we believe that the mayor alone cannot take a decision as such decisions belong to the council,” Nyamane said.

Money matters

“Our only concern as Forum 4 Service Delivery is the fact that the municipality is at the eve of receiving its equitable share which is around R60 million, who will administer such a large sum of money if the municipality does not have a municipal manager as it is the case now,” he added.

Nyamane further said the ongoing litigations would worsen the financial status of the already troubled municipality which does not have a single tipper/truck to collect garbage.

According to the letter written by Miga, the acting municipal manager will act as an accounting officer of the North West municipality. Mogale will be getting his salary from the provincial government whilst answerable to the head-of-department of Coghsta.

“He will carry out the responsibilities of an Accounting Officer, as prescribed in section 55 and section 81 of the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2004 respectively. He will be required to submit a monthly report to the Head of Department on a short, medium to long term basis and ensure the sustainability of the municipality,” the letter read.

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The letter from the former MEC Miga instructs that the money used to pay Mogale will have to be reimbursed by the municipality, “The cost for the deployment will be borne by the Provincial Government for the period of acting, subject to appropriate financial reimbursement arrangements,” the letter read.

‘History repeating itself’

A political commentator from North West University, Professor Andrew Duvenage, said that history was repeating itself, “indeed history is defining our future. It is clear that the ANC cannot manage municipalities throughout the country. There was a hope that the arrival of Cyril Ramaphosa would relieve people from corruption,” Professor Duvenage said.

He was responding to the secondment of Mogale who has been the municipal manager for the controversial Kgetlengrivier local municipality which failed to deliver services. In his former position, he was forced by the court to provide residents with drinkable water.

Mogale said that he could not comment as the matter was “sub judice.”