Good morning ladies and gentlemen from the media.

Thank you very much for joining us this morning. We called this media briefing to announce the course of action we are taking to deal with the current stalemate and collapse of governance in the City of Tshwane.

During the State of the Province Address delivered on 01 July 2019, I indicated that the Gauteng Provincial Government is going to adopt a proactive approach and will intervene decisively in municipalities where and when things go wrong:

“Going forward, we are going to be more proactive and dominant in order to improve oversight and support to municipalities in the province. The cautious approach is not working because things are going wrong in both small and big municipalities and residents are suffering.”

Over the past seven months, the Gauteng Provincial Government has been engaging with all municipalities proactively on matters pertaining to sustainable service delivery, good governance, sound financial management and institutional stability.

The City of Tshwane has been deteriorating rapidly and is evidently on the decline. Residents are suffering, while political parties are fighting in council and in the courts.  

On the 06 of December 2019, the Provincial Executive Council took a decision to institute section 139 (1) (a) intervention, by issuing clear directives about what the City should do to correct flagrant disregard of the Constitution and the law governing the operations of municipalities.

Section 139 (1) (a) intervention was preceded by measures instituted by the provincial government in line with section 154 of the Constitution.

The City is substantially failing to comply with the directives issued and the situation is getting worse every day.

The provincial government has a constitutional responsibility and obligation to the residents of Tshwane to create stability and ascertain continuity of service delivery.

As I promised, we will intervene decisively in any municipality when service delivery grinds to a halt and residents are suffering.

The provincial government is guided by the Constitution and law of the Republic in terms of what needs to be done under the circumstances.

Accordingly, the Gauteng Executive Council met on Wednesday afternoon, 04 March 2020, to assess the developments in the City of Tshwane and decided to invoke section 139(1) (c) of the Constitution. This means that the Tshwane Municipal Council is dissolved and an administrator will be appointed to run the Municipality until a new Council is elected within 90 Days.

This decision is informed by ongoing mismanagement of the City:

• Flagrant disregard for the MFMA, especially regarding procurement processes, which has eroded good governance in the City, as can be evidenced by the tenders irregularly awarded to Glad Africa and Aurecon. 
• Unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure flagged by the Auditor General. The City has been slow in effectively applying consequence management to deal with matters raised by the Auditor General.  
• Failure to spend conditional grants, leading to loss of money to National Treasury.  At the same time, in terms of its financial position, the City is facing serious challenges given its current inability to pay all its creditors and the serious problems it is experiencing in terms of revenue collection.
• Constant irregular appointments of senior managers, for example CoGTA received the appointment report of the Municipal Manager and various managers directly accountable to the Municipal Manager between January and September 2017. The Department found some areas to be non-compliant with Regulation 17(4) of the Local Government Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers (2014).
• Since 2016, the City has failed to elect Ward Committees that allow citizens to get involved in how their communities are governed. This conduct is against the Municipal Structures Act, 1998.
• Supply of clean drinking water is severely compromised and refuse collection is at its worst.

All these issues were raised with the Municipality in several correspondences and directives by the MEC for Urban Planning, Human Settlements and COGTA, Lebogang Maile, but the Municipality failed to act on the directives.

The Municipality is currently incapable of carrying out its constitutional obligations. The Municipality does not have a Mayor and there is no Municipal Manager. The Council has failed to meet and consider matters that affect the functioning of the municipality and service delivery.

The Gauteng Executive Council came to the determination that the current situation in the municipality constitutes exceptional circumstances, which warrant the dissolution of Council and the appointment of an administrator.

We take note of veiled threats of court action by leaders of a particular political party, but we will not be blackmailed into inaction. We want to warn political parties not to play political games with the lives of residents.

The current uncertainty, instability, inaction and collapse of service must be confronted fearlessly and stopped in its track.

The people of Tshwane must come first.

The Gauteng Provincial Government is taking this drastic step in the best interest of the people of Tshwane. All necessary steps in terms of the Constitution will be followed to give effect to the intervention.