Still no mayor for DBNLM

Update

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality remains without a mayor and chief whip after the DA, EFF and FF+ counsellors failed to attend the council meeting on Monday 23 May.

The DA Mayor, Ewald Loock, and DA Chief Whip, Ricardo Smith, were removed from their positions at the special council Meeting on 18 May.

They were voted out on the deciding vote of the CSA Speaker, Cheslin Felix, after a motion of no confidence was tabled against them for the third time.

Before the election of the new mayor and chief whip, the question previously raised by Eldrige Ruiters (DA) was raised again. The meeting was adjourned, allowing time to obtain a legal opinion on whether the removal of the mayor complied with section 53 or 57 of the Municipal Structures Act as the municipal manager, Edward Rankwana, was unable to respond.

After the DA, EFF and FF+ failed to attend the meeting on 23 May, Xolile Galada (ANC) requested the speaker to establish a committee to investigate the breaking of rules and make recommendations.

"If this is not addressed as a matter of urgency, it will set a precedent that councilors can do whatever they like and not attend or walk out of meetings whenever they want. We are here at the expense of the public, not for ourselves, but for the public."

Eunice Kekana (ANC) stated that the public is not interested in what happens in Council, they are interested in service delivery.

"The month of May is the most critical as the draft IDP and draft budget must be adopted by Council. National Treasury already issued a circular that no extensions will be granted to any municipality who fails to adopt. Come June, according to the prescripts of law, we will have no budget. The people of Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality are being failed by political agendas."

The speaker instructed the municipal manager to calculate the cost of the meeting and recover the cost from the councilors who failed to attend.

In a media statement released on 24 May, Samantha Graham-Maré, MP - Dr Beyers Naudé Constituency Leader, stated that the DA is still awaiting the legal opinion before the election of the new mayor.

"On Thursday 19 May, the DA Caucus submitted a letter to the municipal manager, Dr Edward Rankwana, requesting that the legal opinion being sought be provided to the DA at least 48 hours before the next meeting so that it could be properly interrogated. There was no response.

On Friday 20 May a notice of a council meeting scheduled for Monday 23 May was sent to all councilors. This notice did not include a legal opinion on the question raised.

On Sunday 22 May the DA Caucus wrote to the municipal manager to urgently request a postponement of the meeting because no legal opinion had been forthcoming and further requested that a meeting only be scheduled within 48 hours after receipt of the legal opinion. No response was received from the municipal manager.

The DA then submitted a letter to the municipal manager on Monday 23 May to advise that the DA Caucus would not be attending the council meeting scheduled for later that day."

Sias Smith, convener of the Action Save DBNLM movement, believes that the municipality is imploding.

"Our political leaders are invested in a political power struggle at the expense of the community. They are in a state of denial pretending as if everything is in order whilst the reality is that the municipality has already gone down the tubes."

Smith says that the Action Save DBNLM movement approached the municipality with good intentions to assist where possible, but their requests for a meeting to discuss the challenges faced by the municipality, were denied.

"When the community reaches out to them, they push us aside. When the community asks questions, they never answer. The administration and political leaders should go home – they should resign or take unpaid leave as it is evident that we have no municipality."

CSA Speaker Cheslin Felix (middle) casting his deciding vote to remove Ewald Loock (right) and Ricardo Smith from their positions as mayor and chief whip.