Picture: The Greater Taung Local Municipality speaker, Grace Moipolai
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Greater Taung Local Municipality (GTLM) speaker, Grace Moipolai said the scheduled special council meeting that was proposed by the majority of ANC councillors and other political parties at the municipality, is invalid and redundant.
This comes after two councillors from opposition parties, PR councillor, April Sephula and F4SD ward 6 councillor, Seakgamoriri Mmokwa, who were signatories to the petition withdrew their support.
Aggrieved councillors from the municipality, who are mostly ANC members, wrote a letter requesting Moipolai to convene a special council meeting at Depot Hall in Taung at 10am today. In the letter that was seen by Taung DailyNews, they raised burning issues that they wanted to form part of the agenda.
They alleged that Gaoraelwe has gone rogue and the status quo of the municipality has deteriorated under his tutelage.
“We, the undersigned majority of duly elected councillors of the GTLM, herewith request our municipal council’s speaker, Grace Moipolai to convene a special council meeting in terms of Section 29(1) of the Local Government Municipal Structure Act No. 117 of 1998.
“The speaker of a municipal council decides when and where the council meets subject to Section 18(2), but if a majority of the councillors request the speaker in writing to convene a council meeting, the speaker must convene a meeting at a time set out in the request.”
These councillors further said, if the speaker or acting speaker refuses to call a meeting of the council in terms of subsection (1), the municipal manager, or in the absence or refusal by the municipal manager, a person designated by the MEC for Local Government in the province, may call and chair the meeting.
They added that Moipolai’s attention is further and kindly drawn to the fact that, under no circumstances may the requested meeting be conducted via zoom or any other hybrid platforms.
“Outlined below in our order of importance, are the items we deem as of utmost importance for inclusion in the requested meeting’s agenda. We would like to discuss the danger allowance progress report, progress report on municipal manager’s appointment, the state of the investment account, performance report on executive committee and a motion on the adoption of council resolutions by secret ballot.
“Speaker, it remains our firm view that, any further procrastination or failure by council to address and deal with the aforesaid items, can only plunge our municipality further into operational inefficiencies and costly functional paralysis.”
They said the biggest casualties are the municipality’s biggest stakeholder – the people of the Greater Taung. The councillors said, they kindly hope that their request shall merit her sense of urgency and priority.
These councillors also called for reshuffling and allegedly suggested that Nga Tong becomes a mayor, Kealeboga Tong ascends to the municipal speaker position, while Lerato Babuseng becomes the new Chief Whip.
The municipality has been plunged into disarray as widespread allegations of corruption and maladministration were said to be entrenched into it. It is alleged that the municipality has depleted R101 million equitable share in weeks, finished R3 million budgeted for disaster with nothing to show for and also continues to spend millions of rands from investment accounts with no accountability.
Also, the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA), highlighted that the municipality continues to make use of consultants, which are too expensive.
Meanwhile, Moipolai said: “Kindly note that your petition has been received by my office on 23 October 2023 at around 9:45am. At the time and date, I was not in the office attending to other business outside town. You have accordingly requested that a special council meeting be convened at a time set out in your request.
“I wish to advise you that, even if the act accords you convenience on time, the decision on the venue of the meeting remains the prerogative of the speaker of the council. I regret to inform you that, the meeting cannot be convened as per your wishes, because two of the councillors that are signatories to the petition, April Sphula (PR Councillor) and Seakgamoriri Mmokwa (Ward 6 councillor) have since withdrawn from the spirit of your letter, thus rendering the petition invalid and redundant.”
However, one councillor who refused to be named for fear of reprisal said, they have lobbied for the support of more councillors and they will submit another petition.
The Guardian 