The North West Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs MEC, Oageng Molapisi, has called for normalcy to return at the Zeerust-based Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality, following weeks of political instability that led to halting of service delivery at the municipality.
This after the municipal buildings were temporarily closed from Monday until Wednesday, after a violent shootout ensued between two warring security companies employed at the municipality on Monday morning, leaving one bodyguard wounded after he was shot in the leg and rushed to hospital.
The police cordoned off the building, which was declared a crime scene, and municipal employees were instructed to stay home and only returned to work on Wednesday.
Molapisi said that the issues at the municipality are political and require political intervention as the ANC has done.
“There are allegations and counter allegations by members of the public and by some of the individual councillors that we have interacted with, but in the main these issues are political. I mean we all know that mayors, especially where the governing party is in charge, are deployed by that party as to who will be the person identified and deployed to be the political head of the municipality.
“We know that in Ramotshere Moiloa Dinah Pitso is deployed as such, so no one has a mandate to depose a mayor and impose him/herself to that position. So, that is why I am saying these issues are political,” said Molapisi. The MEC said he visited the municipality and met with the mayor and council troika to get a first-hand report of what transpired at the municipality.
“We also met the accounting officer, who is the Municipal Manager (L.I Mokgatlhe). I must also indicate that the premier (Lazarus Mokgosi) led a delegation comprising the Community Safety and Transport Management MEC (Wessels Morweng) accompanied by the Acting Police Provincial Commissioner (Major General Patrick Asaneng). This is one of the municipalities in the province that has been performing very well and has shown improvement in terms of audit outcome. It’s a municipality where the financial recovery plan is being implemented through the provincial executive reps,” explained Molapisi.
The MEC has called for immediate removal of a security company that was deployed to the municipality without following proper procurement procedures.
“There are processes such as the supply chain management, there’s has always been a security that is taking care of the safety of the municipal building and safety of the employees, which is properly procured by the municipal manager.
“That’s the security that is recognised because it was duly procured as to the other security company that was deployed overnight, we are yet to receive the report as to who appointed that security company, how was it procured etc,” remarked Molapisi.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the province has already removed three councillors, including Itumeleng Moarabi, who is accused of imposing himself as the mayor after ‘deposing’ duly elected and the party deployee, Pitso through a Forum4Service Delivery sponsored motion of no confidence.
The councillors are still undergoing an internal party disciplinary process.
