GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — After a year in office, Mayor Deon de Vos took some time this week to look back at the progress and problems encountered during this period.
When asked to rate himself out of ten for the first year’s performance, he came out with a conservative score of six, considering the background of what had been inherited.
The Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality came into being after the municipal elections last year, with the amalgamation of the previous Camdeboo, Ikwezi and Baviaans Municipalities.
Mayor de Vos, who at the time was the Speaker at the Sarah Baartman District Municipality, said that he had watched the process with interest and concern, as it was evident even in the early stages pre-election that the process was unlikely to run smoothly.
The gazetted proposals that were put forward for the transition process did not work, and the new Council, under the mayor, had to come up with their own structures to ensure a smooth transition.
Initially the new council had to deal with strikes by municipal workers, and this area of labour unrest is still an area of concern, although there is now relative calmness. A labour forum has been established, and at least some progress has been made and meetings are being held.
The equalisation of salaries in the three former areas is in progress, and this needs to be implemented as soon as possible. Mayor de Vos emphasised that disgruntled employees must use proper channels to deal with any problems in order to avoid strikes in the future.
Many of the problems experienced have been financial, with the outcome of the amalgamation bringing even more difficulties than anticipated. When the three previous municipalities were audited in 2015/2016, Baviaans and Camdeboo received an unqualified audit, whereas Ikwezi received a disclaimer, as had happened for many years. The inherited problems from Ikwezi have had a severe negative impact, and may even affect the next audit outcome for 2016/2017 for the new municipality.
Ikwezi was unable to even provide initial balances. “The ghost of Ikwezi is haunting us daily,” said the mayor ruefully. He would like the MEC to do a forensic investigation on all three of the former municipalities individually, and is awaiting a response in this regard. Mayor de Vos says that his biggest disappointment of the year is the anticipation of a poor audit, due to the Ikwezi problem.
The new municipality also inherited outstanding investigation reports from both Ikwezi and Baviaans, and had to deal with these. Not all of the recommendations have been finalised as yet.
At the end of last year, the amount owing to Eskom was R30m, and the power utility wanted to cut off all supply to the municipality. Arrangements were made with Eskom and other major creditors to pay off outstanding debt (R50m of which came from Ikwezi), and the municipality has been able to stick to these arrangements thus far. Previously, organisations such as schools and hospitals could have their power cut off for non-payment, but council decided that schoolchildren and hospital patients should not have to suffer for administrative failures. Many may remember that earlier this year the offices of the Education Department (rather than schools) were without power for several weeks when in arrears with payments.
A financial recovery plan has been adopted by council, and is now being implemented. The mayor emphasised that needs a buy-in from all stakeholders, including employees –for example concerning the authorised use only of company vehicles.
Still on the issue of finance, the mayor brought up the issue of non-payment for services, which is another major problem. At present, R125m is owed to the municipality by consumers, although he qualified this by explaining that some of the poorer debtors actually qualify for the intergovernmental grant (IGG) which would allow their debt to be written off.
A campaign is planned to encourage those eligible to register for the IGG, which is available to households where the income is less than or equal to two state pensions. In this, as in other areas, the mayor showed his determination to root out fraud and corruption, warning that total income must be declared honestly. The debt collection agency Revco has been appointed as a service provider to collect outstanding debt from consumers, and had managed to collect R10m by the end of July.
As expected, logistics have been a problem since the amalgamation. The cost of travelling the vast distances within the area of the municipality is very high, both in terms of money and time. The mayor is in fact using his own personal vehicle most of the time for his travelling, and has run up over 70 000km in the last year. His car has had four services in this time, at his own expense.
Many problems have also arisen for the IT departments, with integrating the different systems used previously. Many people will remember the initial problems with the lack of accounts. All areas are now using the system inherited from Camdeboo, and unfortunately residents in the Baviaans and Ikwezi areas are still experiencing some problems. Internet access also is not fully functioning in all areas, and many libraries have no internet access for users. The website of the new municipality is still a work in progress, and the mayor feels that this is a failing.
Politically, Mayor de Vos was pleased to report that councillors are generally working together across political lines towards the same goal. All are united to work towards the success of the new municipality, despite some administrative problems that have been experienced during the year. Last September, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Joubert resigned, and in December the Municipal Manager was found guilty of five charges of contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act from his time as Municipal Manager of Oudtshoorn Municipality, and was suspended.
Thus the municipality has been working with an acting Municipal Manager and acting CFO for most of the year, and although these people have done a sterling job, their positions were only temporary. Capable and experienced people have now been appointed to fill these positions, as well as that of Director of Community Services. The mayor was personally involved with the selection process of the new staff, all of whom have accepted their appointments, and he is confident that these people will live up to expectations. The person appointed as the new Municipal Manager has experience in the position in the Eastern Cape, and has recently been working in George.
The mayor is adamant that the performance agreements and contracts of these new employees must be watertight to ensure that if they do not comply, their services can be terminated without a lengthy and expensive court battle. He feels that it is extremely important that top management are seen to be accountable, as their attitude and commitment filters down through all levels. The point was made in all the interviews that there must be consequences management, that all levels of employees must be accountable for their actions or lack of action. This is directly related to the problem of a lack of discipline in the workplace.
The lack of a working organogram for the municipality after a year is a cause for concern for the mayor, and this has been echoed by both councillors and members of the community, who often do not know who to contact regarding specific problems. An initial draft was put together internally from the three municipalities, but it was soon realised that an outside specialist was needed to refine this. The mayor would like the finalisation of this to be the first task of the incoming MM.
Customer care services are definitely seen as an area for improvement. Mayor de Vos feels strongly that this area needs to be strengthened, as the turnaround time for dealing with complaints is often unacceptably long, which frustrates members of the community. Many people have complained of lack of response, or even acknowledgement, of service delivery complaints made.
The area in which the mayor sees most cause for congratulation is that both IDP and budgets have been produced on time, notwithstanding the challenges of amalgamation and the lack of a CFO and MM.
Meetings were held with good public participation, and deadlines were met. “The communities seem very positive, and definitely want the new municipality to succeed,” he said. Many other established municipalities have not been able to do produce an IDP and budget on time.
Other achievements include the publication of a quarterly newsletter, and the creation of a new logo for the municipality with enthusiastic public participation. Many training programmes have been established, and sports and cultural events commemorated. Progress has been made in local economic development, including training and funding for SMMEs and private museums for Willowmore, Steyterville and Rietbron.
One of the biggest challenges is the vehicle fleet. The municipality is still paying creditors for Ikwezi’s debts, and this has a severe impact on service provision. Vehicles cannot be properly maintained as there is no money available due to paying debts, and there seems to be a perpetual juggling act between paying creditors and having money available for satisfactory service delivery. The problem of vehicles is most acute in the outlying areas.
The mayor is keen to promote a competition for cleanliness amongst the different towns, as he is appalled by the general dirtiness and illegal dumping. He feels that rubbish is a collective problem, and that cleanliness starts in the home- thus it is not purely a problem for the municipality, but individuals in the communities must work with the municipality. The competition he sees as a project for the new Community Services Director.
Overall, the mayor gives an impression of being deeply committed to stamping out corruption and enforcing accountability within the municipality, and this approach has won him support across party lines.
Leader of the DA caucus in the council, Cllr Samantha Graham, was happy to award the mayor 6.5 out of 10 for the first year- a higher mark than he awarded himself!
“Mayor De Vos has shown a commitment to rooting out corruption by recommending a two-party task team to look at abuse of Council property in Willowmore and by requesting a forensic audit of all three former municipalities by the MEC. Much of what he has tried to achieve in his first year has been hampered by a lack of Directors and Municipal Manager and we are hopeful that the rate of progress in turning this Municipality around will increase with the new appointments. The Mayor has demonstrated fairness in his leadership and an ability to unify the Council in its purpose. We hope that this will continue to be the style in which he leads the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality.”
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