Picture: The ANC flag
By OBAKENG MAJE
The embattled Greater Taung Local Municipality (GTLM) will today hold a special municipal council meeting at Seoding Community Hall at 10am to discuss various issues pertaining municipal manager position, progress report on the Director of Social Services, Director of Infrastructure and Technical Services, vacancy for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Human Settlement and Spatial Planning.
However, some councillors alleged that this kind of meeting is just a smokescreen and nothing positive will come out of it. One of the ANC councillors who refused to be known for fear of reprisal said, the municipality failed for almost a year to appoint the new municipal manager, despite numerous interviews and short-listing being conducted.
“The position became vacant on 9 November 2022 and the first advert to fill the post was closed on 23 September 2022. However, for reasons known by the mayor, Tumisang Gaoraelwe, nothing was done until the expiry of the advert in terms of the due dates for the process as captured in the regulations of the Municipal Systems Act (MSA).
“When asked the reasons for contravention, the mayor said, he had made a mistake by wrongfully counting the days since the advert closed. So, he was pardoned by the council and given a second chance to advertise, which cost the municipality thousands of rand and is equivalent to fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” he said.
Our source further said, the second advert went out and was closed on 27 January 2023. He added that the same thing happened, where the due dates for the process expired due to yet another delay by Gaoraelwe.
“This time around, the mayor even tried to hold a failed shortlisting of candidates in Klerksdorp, using Director of Cooperate Services, Dikagiso Mokoma, whom the council had clearly resolved that she should not be part of the process because of her pending investigation on issues of danger allowance.
“Again, the council lost thousands of rands for advertising and the mayor was never held accountable, but given a third chance to advertise yet again. On 14 June 2023 at a council meeting held at Depot Hall, the mayor was reprimanded by the council, especially the opposition parties and some of ANC councillors for failing to fill the post,” said a source.
He said in that meeting, Gaoraelwe was once again and for the third time granted to advertise the position with the conditions resolved that, he must report to the council on a monthly basis on the progress. He said Gaoraelwe was also instructed to use the Human Resource Manager as the scriber of the panel, which was to include a municipal manager from another municipality, a SALGA official, a COGTA Official, an MMC for HR and the mayor as chairperson.
“The advert was made to newspapers and closed on 11 July 2023. It is shocking to find out that, the mayor will only be presenting his first progress report to the council on 3 November 2023 at a council meeting. This makes it almost four months since the resolution was made on 14 June 2023 and the mayor has never reported to the council.
“This also makes it three months and three weeks since the advert closed and no progress report tabled to the council. This is in contravention of a council resolution by the mayor. The other contravention of the council resolution is that, at a council meeting on 4 September 2023, the former CFO who acted as municipal manager at that council meeting, was asked where Mokoma was, and confirmed that she was taking part in the interviews of the municipal manager position at the library,” he said.
He alleged that, the council made it clear that Mokoma was not supposed to form part, but she vehemently refused to excuse herself from those interviews, saying that the mayor had instructed her to be part.
“It is still questionable as to why the mayor replaced the HR Manager with Mokoma against the council resolution, and also what was her role in the process.
“This was not the only time the mayor contravened the law. On another turn of events, the three months of acting of Andrew Makuapane as municipal manager had expired by the time he chaired the interviews for filling posts of Director of Technical Services and Director of Community Services. The mayor illegally extended the acting of Makuapane without council resolution and allowed him to sign off payments and make appointments from 18 September 2023 to 5 October 2023, which is the date that council,” he said.
He alleged that, surprisingly, instead of holding the mayor accountable, the ANC caucus was instructed that, their mandate is to condone all irregular actions by the mayor, and that the North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs, Nono Maloyi will be approached to give concurrence on the matter.
“To this date, no concurrence has been tabled to the council and the resolution to condone irregularities remains illegal. As we speak, we are being threatened by the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) to write apology letters because we tried to oust the mayor or we will be reprimanded.
“The Code of Conduct for councillors and the MFMA clearly prevent councillors from making wrong decisions as taken above by the GTLM council. Clearly, the process of filling posts of municipal manager and Directors are irregular and in contravention of the regulations and council resolutions, but the determination to disrespect that by some influential ANC office bearers is strong and will happen on 3 November 2023,” he said.
Meanwhile, ANC provincial spokesperson, Tumelo Maruping did not respond to our questions sent to him before publishing this article. However, the response will be incorporated when received.
The Guardian 