Did the council break the law?
A municipal official who spoke to the Newcastle Advertiser under condition of anonymity explained accepting a sponsorship to fund a municipal event contravenes the regulation.
The Municipal Cost Containment Regulations outlined in the Local Government Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 stipulates in section 10(5):
“An accounting officer must ensure that social events, team building exercises, year-end functions, sporting events and budget vote dinners are not financed from the municipality or the municipal entity’s budgets or by any suppliers or sponsors.”
A municipal official who spoke to the Newcastle Advertiser under condition of anonymity explained accepting a sponsorship to fund a municipal event contravenes the regulation. “While the council may solicit a donation or sponsorship to support a charity or non-profit organisation, it cannot fund its own workshops or events through sponsorships as this creates ethical concerns,” he explained.
A perusal of the regulations further revealed the following in section 8(2):
“Overnight accommodation may only be booked where the return trip exceeds 500km.”
Calculated from the office of the Newcastle Advertiser, the Drakensburg Sun Resort is exactly 177km away. A return trip is 354km, 146km less than the distance stipulated in the regulation.
“It needs to be verified and indeed a legal opinion should be obtained, for future reference or consequence management, as to whether the practice of having a sponsor who works with the municipality in any way or form is allowed. This is the big question. There are many aspects to consider in this regard, especially any conflicts of interests,” Keeka conceded.
- A blatant disregard for public participation in council meetings
The fact that the council meeting was convened 200km away means that members of the public interested in observing the council’s discussions regarding the budget and IDP could not attend.
Section 19 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 states:
“The municipal manager of a municipality must give notice to the public, in a manner determined by the municipal council, of the time, date and venue of every – (a) ordinary meeting of the council; and (b) special or urgent meeting of the council, except when time constraints make this impossible.”
The Newcastle Municipality no longer invites the public to attend meetings of the council by any means and the agenda to council meetings is no longer publicly available as it was in the past.
The Systems Act further states in Section 20 (2):
“A municipal council, or a committee of the council, may not exclude the public, including the media, when considering or voting on any of the following matters: (a) A draft by-law tabled in the council; (b) a budget tabled in the council; (c) the municipality’s draft integrated development plan, or any amendment of the plan, tabled in the council…”
“At the very least, the council meeting should have provided for access via virtual means and this should always be widely advertised allowing those who have an interest to participate. This should be done for every single council meeting, that a link to attend is sent to residents via the social media platforms of the municipality. In this way, residents can see who sleeps in council and who raises their voices, needs and concerns in the chamber,” remarked Keeka.
“It is the responsibility of council to be accountable to the public. In hosting the council meeting out of town, it took away the right of the community to engage with the council. It took away residents’ rights to participate in crucial processes of the municipality. We are not an institution that operates privately. We are a public institution where transparency is important,” said Yende.
“We (the NRF) are of the opinion that Cogta is failing Newcastle by failing to place the Newcastle municipality under administration,” concluded Shunmugam. “We are concerned about the current state of governance at the Newcastle local council. There is blatant disregard for legislation.”
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