Mabuyane to appeal judgment to dissolve Makana council
The Eastern Cape government’s executive council will appeal the groundbreaking judgement handed down by the Grahamstown division of the High Court of South Africa which ordered the dissolution of the Makana Municipality council.
On Janaury 14 judge Igna Stretch said the beleaguered municipality had failed to provide services to the community and was thus in breach of the constitution.
Stretch ordered premier Oscar Mabuyane’s executive to dissolve the Makana council and appoint an administrator until a new council was formed.
She ordered the provincial executive to “implement a recovery plan aimed at securing the Makana municipality’s ability to meet its obligations to provide basic services and to meet its financial commitments”.
The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) which took the municipality to court, argued that the municipality had failed to manage its administration, budgeting and planning processes to give priority to basic needs of the community.
The UPM listed 15 other respondents, including Mabuyane, Cogta MEC Xolile Nqatha and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
On January 16 The Herald had reported that Mabuyane’s executive was “considering” an appeal, while the Makana municipality announced its intention to appeal last Wednesday, January 22.
In a statement the premier’s spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha said the provincial government had sought legal advice on the appropriate course of action in responding to the judgement.
“There are sound grounds upon which an appeal maybe lodged, and that another court may find differently.”
“The decision to appeal does not suggest that the executive council believes that there are no challenges in Makana,” Sicwetsha said.
“The executive council is of the view that the work it is doing through an intervention in Makana must be taken into consideration by the court.”
Sicwetsha said the executive council’s interventions had helped the municipality pay its Eskom account on a regular basis.
“Our commitment is to support the municipality to be able to sustainably provide services to the people of Makana.
“The provincial government has harnessed support from the national department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (Misa), department of water and sanitation, Amatole Water and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC).
Some of the outcomes of the support which were allegedly not considered by the court are:
- a) Development of data optimisation systems which provides Makana with online access to cost-effective database;
- b) By April 2019 the department of water and sanitation had allocated R78m for upgrade of water treatment works to store 20 megakilolitres and allocated R35m for water conversion and refurbishment of the water treatment plant;
- c) R22m was allocated for drought relief and identification of new boreholes;
- d) As a result of the support, bulk water is now extracted from the Fish River and delivered to the eastern part of Makana;
- e) ECDC’s assistance to assist in the implementation of sewer infrastructure upgrades.
A civil movement called Let’s Talk Komani had also resorted to court to have the Enoch Mgijima municipal council dissolved and an administrator appointed to try to stabilise the broke and beleaguered municipality.
The movement seeks a relief a akin to what was sought by the Unemployed People’s Movement in Makana.
Sicwetsha said Mabuyane’s council was considering the content of the application, while the provincial Cogta department was engaging the Enoch Mgijima Municipality.
“All these processes will result in the decision of the executive council on the appropriate response with regards to this particular application.
“The decision will be taken at the next meeting of the executive council scheduled for the first week of February 2020,” he said.