KZN Cogta MEC urges Mtubatuba councillors to put aside political differences

Cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka has urged Mtubatuba councillors to put aside their political differences and focus on service delivery in order to better the lives of the local community.

Hlomuka instructed councillors to ensure their municipality delivers on its constitutional mandate to the people.

The MEC convened an urgent full council meeting in Mtubatuba last Thursday to assess the state of the municipality and engage with councillors on issues relating to service delivery, governance and latest developments that have unfolded within the municipality.

He said Mtubatuba was among the municipalities placed under administration in the province.

The council is plagued by a variety of issues relating to poor governance challenges, including the failure of councillors to attend council meetings.

He said according to reports received by his office, several council meetings have failed owing to disagreements among the councillors.

“This has cascaded to the executive committee meetings, which have collapsed five times since June as a result of disagreements and lack of a quorum.

“Other oversight committees, such as the audit and the municipal public accounts committees, have faced the same problem, which had disastrous consequences for the provision of basic services to residents,” he said.

Hlomuka appealed to all councillors to work towards resuscitating important oversight structures and to ensure that the council performs its functions as expected.

He urged the municipality to take a firm stance against corrupt officials, who have been implicated in a forensic report for various transgressions, which include fraud and corruption.

He said the report indicated criminal proceedings and civil recovery processes had been initiated against those implicated.

“Fifteen employees were implicated in the forensic investigation. Of those, 10 were charged and dismissed and four are still attending disciplinary hearings, while the 15th died while facing disciplinary action.”

This article first appeared on Zululand Observer and was republished with permission.

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