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The Democratic Alliance (DA) deeply regrets that the Northern Cape ANC provincial executive has manipulated the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to dissolve the Renosterberg municipality in a brazen attempt to prevent corruption from being exposed.

Renosterberg, under the new leadership of recently elected ANC mayor Johannes Nicklaas, has done an about turn. In fact, for the first time in ages, the municipality succeeded in paying its outstanding Eskom debt in full, for the past three consecutive months. This is something that the municipality failed to do under the leadership of former ANC mayor, Johannes Olifant, and clearly shows progress within the institution.

The recent audit outcomes of local government have also revealed that there are many other Northern Cape municipalities that are in a far worse state than Renosterberg municipality.

The decision of COGHSTA MEC, Bentley Vass, to issue a notice of intervention in terms of section 139(1)(c) of the Constitution, is therefore very questionable. We can only wonder why he did not rather choose to adopt a less intrusive section 131 (a) or 131 (b) intervention instead?

Given the irrationality of the dissolution of council and the 139 intervention, we can only surmise that Vass’s actions are politically motivated and seek to protect the old guard from being exposed via a forensic audit, which was applied for by the Municipal Manager, and supported by Council.

As far as the DA is concerned, the use of the NCOP to sanction the dissolution of the Renosterberg Council, signifies an increasingly desperate ANC, that is willing to go to extreme lengths to protect ANC cadres, including the former mayor, by keeping the lid on municipal looting and mismanagement, as opposed to supporting new leadership that chooses to serve with integrity.

The DA is contesting the hastily adopted decision to dissolve Renosterberg Council and also to implement a Section 139(5) intervention. In addition to other irregularities, it must also be taken into account that the mayor and MM previously applied for an inter-governmental dispute, which in effect means that the NCOP deliberations were in fact premature and should be declared null and void.

We sincerely hope that DA MP, Carin Visser’s attempts to petition Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to reject this irregular and illegal intervention, and dissolution of the council in terms of section 139(3)(b), will yield positive results.

Municipal interventions should, under no circumstances, be allowed to be manipulated to suit the ANC’s narrow, party political agenda, at the cost of clean governance and service delivery to the people of Renosterberg.

Issued by The DA