Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members and fellow South Africans, the Western Cape does not support the section 139(1)(b) intervention in the Abaqulusi Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal for the following reasons: the Legacy Report from the Fourth Parliament to the Fifth Parliament raised a serious concern that section 139 interventions were used to settle political scores as opposed to administrative failings.
Abaqulusi is an example of this concern as the MEC of KwaZulu-Natal is abusing his authority because Abaqulusi is run by a coalition of opposition parties. Since the coalition government took over, their debt book has been reduced; revenue collection has increased from 42% to 90%; a 100% of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant, MIG, funding has been spent as opposed to previous rollovers; section 56 and 57 managers
have been appointed; and the Eskom debt has been reduced from R86 million to R36 million.
The ANC has tried to collect the full Council sitting due to a quorum misinterpretation by the MEC. It is important to note that all stakeholders objected to the intervention at the oversight meeting. Both the Offices of the Chair and the Chief Whip of the NCOP must also accept responsibility ... although they aren't here ... as only one member of the select committee from the ANC attended the oversight. And when the ANC members failed to attend the meeting, hon Cathy Dlamini was rather haphazardly sworn in to ensure this irregular recommendation be adopted.
The Western Cape objects to the intervention and calls upon the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Zweli Mkhize to investigate the actions of the MEC, Nomusa Dube-Ncube. I thank you