Jongizizwe Dlabathi, ANC chief whip in Ekurhuleni. Picture: @ThabangMashiya1/Twitter
ActionSA in Ekurhuleni filed a motion of no confidence against the metro’s executive mayor Sivuyile Ngodwana on Tuesday.
The leader of the party's caucus, Siyanda Makhubo, confirmed that they have filed a motion against the mayor and his MMCs.
Makhubo stated that the party was attempting to save the municipality, which he claimed was on the verge of collapse.
“Since his (Ngodwana) election, with the help of the ANC, EFF and the Super 7 Minority parties such as the ATM, ICM, PAC, COPE, UDM, AIC and IRSASA in March 2023, service delivery and the city’s financial standing has deteriorated.
“ActionSA has been a vocal opponent to Ngodwana’s disastrous tenure as mayor, which saw the EFF join the city’s political leadership for the first time,” he said.
The caucus leader said it was blatantly clear that Ngodwana was installed as a compromise between the ANC and the EFF, adding that his party can no longer idly sit by and watch as he fails to govern.
He continued to say under Ngodwana’s leadership, the municipality had witnessed the deterioration of finances with cash on hand at record lows, and service delivery grind to a halt as service providers were not paid.
“We have seen that the EFF, occupying important service delivery portfolios and the critical finance portfolio, has systematically brought service delivery to a halt, and failed to implement fiscal controls.
The EFF MMC for Finance, Nkululeko Dunga, was infamously involved in the ‘Blue-Light Crash’ last year and has also more recently failed to submit the Auditor General’s report to the council on time.
“This is a basic pillar of good governance, which allows councillors as elected public representatives to assess the state of the city’s finances and whether rate payers’ money is being spent correctly,” added Makhubo.
He said ActionSA had Valuable reasons for having brought a motion of no confidence against Mayor Ngodwana and his team of what he called underperforming MMCs.
“The motion will now serve before Council’s programming committee, and once approved, will be tabled at the February Council meeting for a vote.
“To this end, ActionSA is willing to work with any party that will put residents first and get service delivery moving again.”
Dunga did not respond to questions sent to him by The Star.
Meanwhile, the ANC chief whip Jongizizwe Dlabathi said he could not comment as they were yet to attend the programming session.
“We have not seen the motion. We will wait for the programming meeting, after which, we will comment,” Dlabathi concluded.
Recently opposition parties accused both the mayor and Finance MMC of hiding and failing to submit the city’s 2022/23 annual financial statements within the legislated deadline, which they said was a breach of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
In terms of the MFMA, all municipalities must prepare consolidated annual financial statements and submit them to the auditor-general for auditing within three months of the financial year-end.
At the time, Makhubo described the state of affairs as dire and worrying which showed a lack of accountability and adherence to legal requirements as outlined in the PFMA.
The Star
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