Action plan for municipality
2009-10-14 16:10
Standerton - The Mpumalanga government on Wednesday issued a "recovery plan of action" for the troubled Lekwa municipality.
Lekwa incorporates the town of Standerton and the township of Sakhile which have been rocked by violence and service delivery protests in the past two weeks.
"In Lekwa a recovery plan of action has been developed for the municipality. The recovery plan responds to the findings and recommendation of the investigations conducted in the municipality," said a statement from the provincial department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
The report is the result of complaints made at a previous round of service delivery protests in Standerton. Those complaints are similar to those that have apparently sparked the current protests.
Residents have accused municipal officials of corruption, of being unqualified for their positions and of having lost R30m meant to improve services.
All the implicated officials will be suspended and charged, African Eye news service reported the department as saying.
Violence condemned
However, it also condemned what it called the "unwarranted violence, malicious destruction of property, intimidation of individuals and disrespect of the rule of law" by residents of Sakhile, as well as those in Belfast and Machadodorp, which fall under the Emakhazeni local municipality.
The protests in Standerton started on September 25 after the department released a report implicating Lekwa municipal officials in fraud, maladministration and corruption. Several properties, including a councillor's house, municipal administration block, community hall and library, were set alight.
On Tuesday, the Mpumalanga government was given 24 hours to respond to the demands of the Lekwa community. Among these were that all the councillors in the municipality be fired and the resignation of all managers.
Want to speak to premier
But most of all, the community members wanted Premier David Mabuza to personally address them.
Provincial department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Simphiwe Kunene added that the department was seeking legal opinion on how to handle those managers who were employed without having the proper qualifications in Lekwa and other local municipalities.
"Investigations will also be conducted around the resignation of the former Lekwa municipal manager and the chief financial officer [to see] if it was done procedurally and whether there are no monies that they owe the municipality."
Kunene said the department has also appointed a team to investigate the R30m that went missing in Lekwa in 2004, as well as other related matters.
Kunene said the Development Bank of South Africa would assist with funding to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Lekwa municipality with regards to financial systems.
- SAPA