Picture: The disgraced Greater Taung Local Municipality mayor, Tumisang Gaoraelwe

By OBAKENG MAJE

The majority of ANC councillors at the Greater Taung Local Municipality (GTLM), have written a petition to the municipal speaker, Grace Moipolai, instructing her to convene a municipal special council sitting on Wednesday at 10am.

In the letter that has been seen by Taung DailyNews, the aggrieved councillors raised burning issues that need 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.

The letter reads: “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.

“It reads, 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.”

The councillor 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 their 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.”

The ANC councillors said, sadly however, the biggest casualties are the municipality’s biggest stakeholder – the people of the Greater Taung. They said they kindly hope that their request shall merit her sense of urgency and priority.

Meanwhile, the ANC councillors also call for reshuffling and allegedly suggest 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 from investment accounts with no accountability.

Also, Auditor General OF South Africa (AGSA) highlighted that the municipality continues to make use of consultants, which are too expensive.   

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