LETTER | What are new coalition’s intentions?
In response to the articles in The Herald, “Bobani: show me the tenders” (September 4) and “Bullseye on Mettler” (September 5), anyone who has experienced a change in jobs will know that in the first week in your new office, the vast majority of your time is spent meeting your new colleagues, trying to familiarise yourself with your new surroundings, and trying to get to grips with the current state of projects and where you fit into all of this.
The so-called new coalition government, consisting of the UDM, ANC and other smaller parties in Nelson Mandela Bay, has taken barely a week to start interfering in the administration of the municipality.
It has come in like the proverbial wrecking ball.
It is also particularly interesting to note the areas which are being interfered in: tenders and the filing of vacancies.
And then once opposition to this was received from the administration, the city manager became the target.
One has to question the intentions of the new coalition and the best place to start is to look at what the law says.
The Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA), more specifically, section 52 (b), states that the mayor may oversee functions of the accounting officer and CFO, “but may not interfere in the exercise of those responsibilities”.
The MFMA further lists political interference from a councillor as one of its offences in terms of section 173 (4), which provides that a councillor is guilty of an offence if that councillor “deliberately influences or attempts to influence the accounting officer, the chief financial officer, a senior manager or any other official of the municipality to contravene a provision of this act or to refrain from complying with a requirement of this act”.
The Municipal Systems Act goes on to state that councillors may not “interfere in the management or administration of any department of the municipal council unless mandated by council” and may not “give or purport to give any instruction to any employee of the council except when authorised to do so”.
From the extracts above, it is clear that legislation prohibits councillors’ interference in the running of the administration.
With councillors being aware of this, one needs to question why the sudden keen interest in tenders and vacancies?
Might this be to channel work to friends for kickbacks, and arrange jobs for family and friends?
What one would have expected from the new coalition government in its first week in office is to map out a plan to address drought concerns, and improve debt collection and service delivery in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
With reference to the article of September 5, titled “Bullseye on Mettler”, the city manager, Johan Mettler, appears to be the next target for the new coalition government.
Mettler, it would seem, has put a bullseye on his back for performing the duties required of him as city manager.
What is bizarre is that councillor Mongameli Bobani wants to suspend Mettler for doing his job. Cast your minds back to Bobani and his new coalition’s hastily arranged first press conference on August 28.
From first not knowing his left from his right hand side, Bobani seemed extremely pleased with Mettler.
Bobani is even quoted as saying Mettler was “a good city manager”.
Fast forward a few days and now that the city manager would not bend to the whims of the new coalition to allow it to interfere and suddenly Bobani has an intention to suspend the city manager.
Things don’t quite add up.
Bobani has made some bold proclamations about suspending Mettler. In terms of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, the Disciplinary Regulations for Senior Managers provides in regulation 5 that it is only the municipal council that can suspend the city manager.
It states that when an allegation of misconduct against a senior manager is brought, it must “be tabled before the municipal council”.
Regulation 6 then states that “the municipal council may suspend a senior manager on full pay if it is alleged that a senior manager has committed an act of misconduct”.
The suspension letter Bobani is using to threaten the city manager is not, legislatively, worth the paper it’s written on.
The council has not taken a decision to suspend Mettler and until such point that council makes such a ruling, the city manager cannot be suspended.
Bobani has rather sheepishly had to withdraw his moratorium and tender request, as it did not follow due process.
He will also need to withdraw his proclamations.
A quote from the article published on September 4 sums up this new coalition: “Asked if she [councillor Queenie Pink] was aware that interfering in administrative matters was against the law, Pink said: ‘Can I please not answer that one?’”
This blatant disregard for the law makes it hard to argue that the people of this city and service delivery are being put first.
What is being put first is the need to “make hay while the sun shines” in an attempt to steal as much of this city as possible before the courts make a ruling on the legitimacy of the coalition government.
From the outside looking in, it appears this so-called “illegal” coalition government is taking anyone who stands for integrity, good governance and transparency out.
However, righteousness and justice will prevail, and the legislative and procedurally correct decision will be reached, one which will truly be for the benefit the people of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
– ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom
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