Durban – Municipalities under administration will remain under administration even with the inauguration of new councils, until they can prove to the provincial government they are capable of managing their affairs.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in KwaZulu-Natal warned that big municipalities such as the Msunduzi Municipality, which has been under administration for the past few years, will not be excused from it just because they have a new leadership.
“The provincial intervention will continue to be in operation and effective upon the newly declared municipal council until such time that the municipality has demonstrated that it is able in terms of capacity and willingness, to fulfil the executive obligation for which the intervention was originally invoked,” said Cogta spokesperson Senzo Mzila.
Cogta said it would deploy senior officials to assist municipalities to form councils.
There are 21 hung councils in the province that need coalition governments, but coalition governments have proved to be a nightmare in the recent past and left those municipalities dysfunctional.
“The department will be deploying senior officials to all the municipalities to assist the municipal manager with the setting up of the inaugural meetings where the councillors will be sworn in.
“Once sworn in, the councillors will elect office-bearers. There are several capacity-building programmes that the department will be running to equip the newly elected councillors,” said Mzila.
He said these courses take into account some of the lessons the department has learned in terms of identifying areas of training that need to be strengthened so that councillors can work effectively.
“These efforts being made by the department do not negate the responsibility that political parties have to ensure that they field candidates who are capable and have the desire to work for their communities,” he said.
THE MERCURY