Oageng Molapise, the North West MEC for cooperative governance and human settlement, wants an explanation for the appointment of two municipal managers by the Mamusa local municipality.
Council members are now divided into two opposing camps as a result of the appointments, which have led to a bitter power struggle over who should be the North West municipality’s legitimate municipal manager.
While some council members are supporting mayor Mitta Chelechele, others are supporting speaker Gotsilekgosi Batsi.
This has resulted in an administrative crisis for the municipality, which is struggling to pay employees and is only running with two accounting officers.
The chaos broke out following a dramatic council meeting on March 18, where Chelechele allegedly ambushed the council by adding a surprise agenda item.
She allegedly informed council members that she had decided to end the contract of Frans Mabokela, the acting municipal manager, even though it was about to expire.
To the council’s surprise, Chelechele also informed them that since she had already rehired former municipal manager Rantsho Gincane, there was no need to re-advertise the position.
Municipality in disarray
The council members reportedly felt uneasy about the choice, stating that Gincane’s return was contentious.
Gincane was dismissed ten months ago after council members questioned his qualifications.
On the other side, Mabokela works at the department of community safety and transport management as a director.
Following Gincane’s removal, Mabokela was seconded by MEC Oageng Molapise to act as Mamusa’s municipal manager.
Mabokela has a month-to-month contract that must be extended every three months. The council has decided to extend his current contract, which was supposed to expire on March 31.
Now that two officials are vying for the top administrative position, the municipality is in disarray, and the division among council members is growing.
Workers are concerned that this month’s salaries might be delayed once more. This follows the payment of February salaries to municipal employees on March 28.
They had no problems with payments in March, though.
All of the employees who were due their February and March salaries were paid on March 28.
Following the disruptive council meeting, Batsi said he asked Molapisi to step in and address the ongoing disturbances at the municipality.
He said that staff salaries were not a major issue because, in the past, wages were paid using funds obtained from rates and services.
The only source of income for Mamusa, a grant-reliant municipality, is from locals who choose to stay in town.
“We will continue to have these challenges for months to come because if we do not make sure that the mayor holds meetings with communities and alerts them about the importance of revenue collection, we won’t succeed in terms of paying salaries. We will remain with this problem,” he said.
Report on two managers sought
He claimed that Chelechele was the one who initially wrote to Molapisi to ask for the municipal manager to be seconded.
“She started that exercise. Now I am shocked when she suddenly and without any due process terminates Mabokela’s contract and reinstates the terminated substantive municipal manager,” he said.
Batsi said Gincane never contested his termination.
“He could have taken us to court, but he didn’t. The mayor wants to reappoint him when the advertisement is out for the municipal manager,” he said.
He wanted Molapisi to facilitate an urgent investigation into the procedural irregularities surrounding the reinstatement of the dismissed municipal manager.
Responding to Sunday World, Molapisi said that as far as his department is concerned, he can confirm that Mabokela serves as acting municipal manager.
He said he has seconded the decision for Mabokela’s appointment. “The secondment followed a request by the municipality through its council for the municipal manager.
“Due processes were followed to effect the secondment. We can also confirm that Mr Mabokelwa draws his salary from the department of community safety and transport management.”
Molapisi said he has requested the municipality to submit a report on two municipal managers, if any.
“We can confirm that engagements are ongoing to assist the council in bringing stability to the municipality. Any actions by the municipality should be legal and in the best interest of the people of Mamusa,” he said.
ANC blamed for instability
There are sixteen council members in the municipality. Nine seats are held by the ANC, four by the EFF, and one by Azania, the DA, and Freedom Front Plus combined.
Papiki Babuile, the provincial secretary for the EFF, attributes the instability to the ANC.
“We tried to stabilise things at the municipality when we had our member as the speaker,” said Babuile.
“We tried everything humanly possible, and the ANC, after seeing that they are unable to loot anymore, removed our speaker.
“The councillors rejected the reinstatement of the municipal manager, even though the council resolutions are clear on that matter.
“We are going to engage the leadership of the ANC in the province and the MEC about the issues. All these things that are happening in municipalities are planned by ANC members.”
He continued: “The uMkhonto weSizwe party leader in the North West, Alfred Motsi, said what is happening in Mamusa is a lack of governance.
“The ANC is not capable of governing; anywhere in Mamusa, there is sewer spillage. They must simply close shop so that the people can elect a new government; the current one cannot be rehabilitated; they are rotten to the core.”
Chelechele has promised to respond at a later stage, and the ANC’s spokesperson, Tumelo Maruping, had not responded by the time of publication.
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