Riyaz Patel
“Factionalism, disunity and the politics of the stomach,” has led to the total collapse of municipalities in the North West, ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule said following a meeting with councillors in the province.
Fifteen of the province’s 22 municipalities have been put under administration by the provincial government.
The Mamusa local municipal council in Schweizer-Reneke was dissolved in October.
Magashule’s comments came after a meeting with ANC councillors in the province Wednesday, SABC News reported.
“If there is disunity you will have municipalities collapsing. If you have unity you will have people working as a team, if you have people who are respecting authority, they also respect the law to govern local municipalities.”
“There is no way that you can have 15 municipalities under administration, it’s happening for the first time and it should never happen and that is why we must go back to basics and forget about ourselves,” said Magashule.
Premier Job Mokgoro’s spokesperson, Vuyisile Ngesi, said the Mamusa Municipality was rife with maladministration, financial mismanagement and councillors who neglected their legislative duties.
Ngesi added that in some instances, certain councillors at Mamusa allegedly dictated who should get tenders.
