Several municipal managers (MMs) have been suspended or placed on special leave in five municipalities in the North West over the past two months. The affected municipalities include Kagisano Molopo, Naledi, Bojanala, Tswaing and Mamusa.
At the same time, municipalities such as Madibeng, Ditsobotla and Lekwa Teemane are without permanent municipal managers.
This is blamed by some quarters on internal squabbles in the affected municipal councils, while in some instances, Municipal Managers could not deliver as expected.
The instability in administrative leadership at several municipalities in the province is a cause for concern. Head of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Ben Bole says this has severely affected the smooth running of municipalities.
“We are worried about some of our MMs who are on suspension, We are worried about the positions I have spoken to that are vacant, And it’s a worried factor to the MEC, that is why he always issue or rather encourage municipalities to can speedily feel This particular positions because for the municipalities to succeed you must feel the vacant positions particular of your senior management position in the municipality.”
According to Chairperson of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) in the North West Khumalo Molefe, the deployment of quality political leaders at municipalities will resolve this instability.
NW Salga chairperson, Khumalo Molefe says “It depends on the quality of municipal manager that we have and senior managers. It also at the same time depends on the quality of the council that is your councillors, your mayors, your speakers and whips that you have. Once the quality does not complement one another, the interconnectedness between the administration and the governance which is council collapses and it leads to fallout.”
Meanwhile, the ANC in the province has blamed this on the squabbles between the political and administrative leadership.
A spokesperson for the party in the province Tumelo Maruping says, “The main problem is where there is no stability in the council, that is where you will find tug of war between the municipal manager and the troika or the council. More often you hear that without any advice or any performance assessment, the municipal manager has been kicked out of the municipality.”
The Auditor General has repeatedly raised a concern about the instability in administrative leadership in some municipalities in the province.
She has cited this as the biggest stumbling block to improving audit outcomes and meaningfully resolving material irregularities.
