EFF postpones council meeting to discuss institutional report review
The institutional report review is already two years overdue.
Kwatsaduza – In what appears to be another bid to delay adopting the much-anticipated institutional report review, the EFF has bought more time by postponing the extraordinary council meeting meant to sit on Thursday to January when council business reopens.
The institutional report review is already two years overdue, and if adopted, it will see to the trimming down of top management and the freezing of some of the vacancies.
Last Thursday, the speaker adjourned the meeting after the council fell into chaos, with EFF and DA councillors exchanging blows over an alleged racist remark made by Ward 112 DA Clr Danie Putter. Putter has resigned. The meeting was set to sit within seven days.
As councillors prepared for the extraordinary council set for Thursday, the EFF speaker of council, Nthabiseng Tshivhenga, released a statement on Wednesday informing parties that the meeting would not sit as planned and that the next one would sit in due course.
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In the letter, Tshivhenga said still outstanding compliance items would require councillors’ discussion.
“It is under these circumstances that the council agenda, items and reports are deferred. We will communicate a date for an extraordinary council meeting in due course.”
The chief whip of the council, Jongizizwe Dlabathi, said council is denied another chance to deliberate over important governance and compliance issues.
“The speaker’s reasons that she is engaging with the Auditor General are insufficient to cancel the council’s seating. We need to interrogate the institutional report review to reposition the administration and governance of the metro,” he said.
ActionSA and the DA have been vocal about adopting the institutional review report, citing that they need to trim top management because it is already bloated, and the EFF intends to add more employees.
“We also have to fill in technical positions and orientate the metro towards delivering basic service delivery.
“We will report the speaker to the Ethics Committee for her actions,” said ActionSA’s Siyanda Makhubo.
Meanwhile, the DA Ekurhuleni caucus leader, Michael Waters, said they have always maintained there is a far more sinister matter at play because the EFF are unhappy with an item on the council agenda known as the Institutional Review.
“This item seeks to establish the staff complement of the municipality. The party is unhappy with the positions created within the proposed structure. They want to use it as an employment agency for their EFF members instead,” he said.
EFF media officer Dumisani Baleni said allegations that the party is against adopting the institutional report are aimless and unfounded.
“We are in support of trimming down on bloated administration positions. Why would we be against that idea now? The matter is already on the agenda, so we can’t remove it,” he added.
