By Thys Khiba
Vereeniging – The MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning and CoGTA, Lebogang Maile says that his visit to the Emfuleni Local Municipality has afforded him an opportunity to see whether they are making progress or not in terms of the intervention.
In the 2018, Gauteng Executive Council (Exco) placed Emfuleni Local Municipality under section 138 (1) (b) and 139 (5) (a) of the Constitution, as a result of total collapse of governance and service delivery ravaging the Municipality. The aim was to send a team of administrators appointed by Exco to normalise and stabilize the Municipality in the past few months.
“The visits affords us an opportunity to see first hand whether we are making any progress or strides in terms of the intervention. We can see some progress, but we could have done better by now,” said MEC Maile.
MEC Maile has also concluded that they have no luxury of pointing fingers at each other now. He says what is essential for them is to see service delivery taking place at a high scale and improving the lives of the Emfuleni residents for better.
“During the visit MEC Maile received a detailed and comprehensive report from the political leadership of the Municipality, including the Team of Administrators,” said departmental spokesperson Castro Ngobese.
Meanwhile, MEC Maile has indicated that the Emfuleni Local Municipality led by Mayor Gift Morane, has been a catastrophic challenge. Maile says the current state of affairs in the municipality should be a collective responsibility. “We want to restore the municipality’s glittering horizon of pride and a destination of choice for the manufacturing investment.”
At least R53m for waste and fleet management; R173m for resurfacing of roads; repairing of traffic lights was given to make the intervention of the Exco a tangible and visible evidence of delivery.
“The provincial executive council decided to institute a comprehensive intervention plan in line with section 139 in order to ensure minimum standards of service delivery to communities and ensure financial viability through a financial recovery plan,” Makhura said.
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