Parliament’s Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Public Administration (Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation) is visiting the Ngwathe Local Municipality in the Free State today as part of efforts to ensure service delivery to the area.
This as Section 139 of the Constitution has been invoked in the municipality. Section 139 of the Constitution speaks to provincial intervention in local government.
According to the Constitution, when a municipality cannot or does not fulfil an executive obligation in terms of the Constitution or legislation, the relevant provincial executive may intervene by taking any appropriate steps to ensure fulfilment of that obligation.
This includes issuing a directive to the Municipal Council, describing the extent of the failure to fulfil its obligations and stating any steps required to meet its obligations and dissolving the Municipal Council and appointing an administrator until a newly elected Municipal Council has been declared elected, if exceptional circumstances warrant such a step, among others.
The committee’s visit to the Ngwathe Local Municipality follows the court-mandated invocation of Section 139(1)(c) of the Constitution.
Section 139(1)(c) empowers a provincial executive to dissolve a municipal council and appoint an administrator where a municipality has failed to fulfil its executive obligations.
“The intervention follows a ruling by the Bloemfontein High Court (and confirmed by the Constitutional Court), which found that the municipality had failed to meet its constitutional, legal and administrative obligations to residents. The court highlighted several challenges, including debt exceeding R1.5 billion, deteriorating infrastructure that has resulted in widespread sewage spills and water shortages, as well as chronic financial and administrative mismanagement,” the Committee said ahead of Wednesday's visit.
The committee will engage political parties represented in the municipal council, business organisations, civil society organisations, and women and youth representatives to obtain their views on the intervention. It will also meet the Provincial Executive to assess progress made since the court order.
Visit to KZN
In addition to the Ngwathe visit, the committee will also meet with the Office of the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the Provincial Public Service Commission on Thursday as part of its programme to assess the state of the public service across provinces.
The committee has resolved to engage provincial Public Service Commissions to evaluate the effectiveness of provincial administrations and identify areas requiring improvement.
"It is important that the public service achieves its intended objectives and that the necessary measures are in place to ensure provincial administrations are functional and deliver quality services to the people. Our engagement with the Public Service Commission will help us understand where challenges exist and whether appropriate interventions are being implemented to strengthen service delivery,” Committee Chairperson Mxolisi Kaunda said.
On Friday, 10 July, the committee will visit Impendle Local Municipality following the invocation of Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution.
The intervention was implemented due to persistent failures in financial management, prolonged vacancies in critical senior management positions, and ongoing political instability within the municipality.
During the visit, the committee will engage political parties represented in the municipal council, business organisations, civil society organisations, and women and youth representatives to obtain their views on the intervention. The committee will also meet the Provincial Executive to assess progress made since the intervention was implemented.
"As representatives of the people, it is essential that the committee engages directly with communities and organisations affected by these interventions. The committee has adopted a standard framework that requires any decision to support or reject an intervention to be informed by the views of those directly impacted. Parliament also has a constitutional obligation to facilitate meaningful public participation," Kaunda said. - SAnews.gov.za
