A bucolic scene in Dr JS Moroka Municipality in Mpumalanga. Picture: Facebook
Councillors in the troubled Dr JS Moroka local municipality in Mpumalanga have been left puzzled by their speaker’s decision to call a special council sitting scheduled for tomorrow, days into the nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19.
According to a notice signed by speaker Rhoda Sazi Mathabe, which The Citizen has seen, the council is scheduled to sit at the Marapyane Agricultural College.
Councillors have reacted with anger to the notice, saying they can’t understand what was so urgent that it could outweigh the protection of lives.
Matters up for deliberation to be discussed at the meeting, which the EFF has said Mathabe would have to attend alone, includes a budget adjustment, acting section 56 managers, and other confidential matters.
Jack Malatjie, EFF PR councillor in the municipality, said the fact that the meeting was scheduled to take place in Marapyane and not in the municipality’s council chambers in Siyabuswa was in itself illegal.
He said the only gazetted venue for the council sitting was in Mdutjana and not anywhere else.
“We were shocked when we were notified of the meeting. Who will attend that meeting when people are not allowed to leave their homes, for a vital reason? She will attend it alone,” Malatjie said.
He said it was strange that the speaker was pushing for a special sitting during the Covid-19 lockdown when the council had failed to sit to adopt disaster management measures, saying currently there was no plan for dealing with Covid-19.
“People have no water, the private tankers from which people bought water have been stopped from running because of Covid-19 but there is no alternative plan in place,” Malatjie said.
Elias Mahlangu, of Vulamehlo Kusile, an NGO, said the municipality was playing with people’s lives, saying they did not know who to turn to.
“Who in their correct minds would call a meeting during Covid-19 lockdown? What is so urgent because the matters on the agenda are not urgent,” he said.
Mathabe could not be reached for comment and was yet to respond to messages.
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