ALL nine provinces of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) voted in favour off the dissolution of the Nquthu Municipality after debating the matter on Thursday.
This move has been welcomed by Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta).
‘We hope the NCOP resolution to approve the dissolution of the Nquthu council will help bring stability in that municipality and lead to a functional uMzinyathi District Municipality, which has been adversely affected by this instability,’ said Committee Chairperson Jihad Mohapi.
The Committee’s decision to support the recommendation of the KZN Provincial Executive was taken after the Committee’s visit to Nquthu last week.
The fact-finding mission investigated the merits of a notice submitted by KZN MEC for Cogta, Nomusa Dube, to have this troubled municipality dissolved.
IFP opposed dissolution
Tabling its report, the Committee indicated that, of all the stakeholders it engaged during this process, only the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) opposed the dissolution.
The African National Congress (ANC), organised labour as well as women and youth formations supported the dissolution.
The Democratic Alliance did not support the dissolution, but were willing to abide by any resolution the NCOP would take regarding this matter.
The National Freedom Party (NFP) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) could not make an input on the matter because both involved in court processes over the legitimacy of representatives.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) was invited to make a written submission, as they did not have an official representative at this meeting, though they were invited.
‘Hung council’
Nquthu Municipality was placed under provincial administration last year, but the intervention has not yielded the required results.
According to the Chairperson, the challenges in this municipality date back to August.
‘Subsequent to the 2016 local government elections, the Nquthu Local Municipality was, like every municipality within the Republic, expected to constitute its own Council within 14 days.
‘This would then allow the uMzinyathi District Municipality to constitute its own Council within 14 days thereafter.
‘To date, this has not been complied with by the Nquthu Local Municipality, thus creating a problem for the uMzinyathi District Municipality,’ said Mohapi.
He said both municipalities therefore do not have a functional Municipal Council, a statutory, body corporate responsible for municipal political leadership, policy making and leadership in the delivery of services to the local communities.
‘As such, the Committee agreed with the KZN Provincial Executive Council (PEC) that dissolving this municipality is the right thing to do.
‘The Committee took the decision to recommend this dissolution after it satisfied itself of the substantive evidence supporting this dissolution as well as the fact that the KZN PEC had complied with procedural and Constitutional imperatives when handling this matter,’ said Mohapi.
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