The DA will submit questions in Parliament to probe the attendance of senior municipal officials from the 6 municipalities in the Waterberg ANC regional Lekgotla on 28 and 29 May 2023 at the Forever Resort in Bela Bela. They were seen in full ANC regalia at the lekgotla in pictures on social media.
The ANC’s invite to the Thabazimbi Local Municipality (see invitation here) requested that the Political Management Team, the Municipal Manager, Technical Director and Chief Financial Officer attend and were expected to prepare a report and a presentation.
Municipalities were further expected to pay for their own accommodation and transport.
Cadre deployment greatly contributed to the corruption, capture, and collapse of South Africa’s public sector.
The presence of the senior municipal officials at the Lekgotla raises serious questions regarding their allegiances.
In their capacity as senior managers of municipalities, it is essential that these officials are a-political and impartial to ensure that the day-to-day operations of running a municipality are not undermined.
The newly amended Systems Act 3 of 2022 reaffirms the principle of the divide between party and state as it includes several positions to ensure that no municipal employee serves on any decision-making structure of a political party.
We further call on the Minister of COGTA, Thembi Nkadimeng, to explain the blatant disregard for the divide between party and state by the ANC Waterberg region as it is this kind of arrogant behaviour that has led to the near collapse of our municipalities.