In an open letter to Paarl Post published on 7 March 2024 the Drakenstein Business Chamber and Paarl Ratepayers’ Association highlighted their perceived ideal characteristics the as-yet-unelected Executive Mayor of Drakenstein should display. One of these is being well-versed in financial practices, particularly in a municipal environment in which they take fiscal responsibility.
To do this the incumbent needs to show residents and ratepayers he or she is serious about giving value-for-money service delivery.
This will be manifest in the size of the Mayoral Committee (Mayco), to be announced as the current committee was dissolved with the departure of the last Mayor. At national level the President has constantly been requested to reduce the size of his cabinet, as this had grown exponentially out of control in terms of costs, but no indication to this end has been forthcoming from the Presidency, nor has any assessment criteria for cabinet members or performance ratings.
The same can be said for the local-government sphere. An Executive Mayor should also be subject to this. He/she may in terms of current legislation appoint councillors to the Mayoral Committee. The number 10 is a peremptory indication of the ceiling, with the lowest threshold 3. These numbers, and anything in between, are at the discretion of the Mayor.
Of these 10 Mayco posts Finance is allocated to the Deputy Mayor, which is not counted as a Mayco position, yet there are only five functional departments within the municipality. This implies one executive director is accountable to more than one Mayco member.
Aside from an effective management perspective it is the financial consideration that needs attention, with aligned service delivery.
In a clear indication to ratepayers the new Mayor should, in our view, show an intention to cut costs in the interests of all and preferably assign a budget to service deliverables rather than the salaries of Mayco members. The incumbent should also be transparent and highlight expected key performance criteria of Mayco members too.
