President
Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet has placed beleaguered Enoch Mgijima Local
Municipality (EMLM) under administration in terms of Section 139(7) of the
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, read together with
Section 150 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003).
In a
statement released following a virtual cabinet meeting on Wednesday, April 6,
cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said both municipalities which include EMLM and Mangaung Metropolitan have been
experiencing significant financial and service delivery failures for a
prolonged period.
“The
EMLM was also placed under mandatory intervention by the Eastern Cape
Provincial Executive in terms of Section 139(5) (a) of the Constitution in
2018. However, after the municipality failed to make progress in improving its
financial and service delivery performance, Cabinet decided to place it under a
national intervention,” said Williams.
She
said national government would now act in the place of the provincial executive
following the invocation of the national intervention.
“This
type of intervention is mandatory and follows the same procedure as Section
139(5) of the Constitution, except that national government will now directly
assume responsibility for these interventions,” said Williams.
“To
give effect to the assumption of responsibility, National Cabinet
Representatives (NCR) will shortly be deployed to both municipalities. The
Minister of Finance will delegate powers to the NCR and will be supported by a
multidisciplinary team of experts.
“No
decision has yet been taken to dissolve the municipal council in terms of
Section 139(5)(b) of the Constitution.”
The
national intervention will take effect upon formal gazetting in the Government
Gazette, however, the current provincial intervention will remain in effect
until this date.
The
Section 139(1) intervention into the EMLM will also be replaced by a Section
139 (5) (a) and (c) intervention, which will also cover the failure of the
municipality to fulfil its executive obligations.
Williams
said the Minister in The Presidency, Mondli Gungubele will – together with the
Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana and the Minister of Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma – hold a media
briefing next week to outline the national intervention.
