On Tuesday, 12 May, the MEC (member of the executive council) of local government, Collin Maine stripped Ventersdorp Municipality of its powers.
Maine invoked Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa, meaning that the provincial government will take over the administration of the municipality and will soon send administrators to run it. This was confirmed by the MEC’s spokesperson, Ben Bole, after the municipality was faced with service delivery issues, protests by workers, the suspension of the municipal manager (MM), Joel Maine invoked Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa, meaning that the provincial government will take over the administration of the municipality and will soon send administrators to run it. This was confirmed by the MEC’s spokesperson, Ben Bole, after the municipality was faced with service delivery issues, protests by workers, the suspension of the municipal manager (MM), Joel Makade and financial instability, among others.
The MEC has also seconded an acting MM, Prof. Mashigo.
The mayor, Cecelia Phoyane, told the Herald that she was happy with the intervention, saying it would bring stability to the municipality. “I do not see it as a crisis. It is to the benefit of all, especially the community as there will be progress in terms of service delivery,” she said.
At 16:00 on Thursday afternoon, the MEC will introduce the administrators during a council meeting which, according to Phoyane, will be an open session for the community. Ventersdorp is the third municipality to be stripped of its powers in recent months, following Madibeng local Municipality and Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality.
The latter had been facing challenges of water and sanitation respectively.
