Nelspruit mayor booted out
2008-02-20 21:47
Nelspuit - The mayor of of Mpumalanga's capital city, Justice Nsibande, was stripped of all his executive powers on Wednesday when the provincial government placed his Mbombela council under curatorship.
Mpumalanga's local government and housing MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini did not mince her words when announcing Mbombela's new boss, Khayalihle Mpungose, as the curator.
Mpungose is a former mayor of the Ugu District Municipality in neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal.
"My department has taken full charge of the Mbombela municipality with immediate effect. (The municipality) has failed the population of Mbombela, and of the province itself, so we are taking over control.
"This means the city doesn't have a mayor or a mayoral committee. Nsibande is now an ordinary councillor," said Mashego-Dlamini.
Tender scandals
The intervention comes in the wake of a series of massive tender scandals and mismanagement charges that provincial authorities fear may jeopardise the city's hosting of games for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Mashego-Dlamini said on Wednesday that she was forced to act when Nsibande and his administrators repeatedly failed to attend conflict resolution meetings with provincial authorities, and walked out of public workshops where they were asked to commit themselves to working in the public interest.
"The walkouts wasted a lot of money ... it became clear that the municipality is not placed to fulfil its obligations on a number of critical public responsibilities.
"We had to act to bring stability, and so that an (independent) team could implement a comprehensive recovery plan to ensure that our 2010 project remains on track," she said.
"All outstanding investigation reports will also be fully implemented. We will also revisit the independent forensic report into suspected tender irregularities in the construction of our 2010 stadium."
'Collusive practises'
The 181-page report, by Ngobe Nkosi Attorneys, claims that national soccer tycoon Bobby Motaung's Lefika Emerging Equity failed to declare a material conflict of interest when it was appointed to adjudicate tenders for the lucrative R1bn stadium construction contract.
The report claims Lefika is guilty of both fraud and "collusive practises" because it failed to disclose its commercial relationship with construction companies Basil Read and Bouygues Travaux Publics, to which it awarded the construction tender.
Lefika is accused of a commercial partnership with the two companies dating back to the construction of the Amakhosi Stadium in Krugersdorp in 2006.
Mashego-Dlamini refused to be drawn on the issue, for fear of prejudicing legal processes.
"The new caretaker administrator will review the investigation reports, and present them to council to implement recommendations," she said.
Mpungose has been seconded two senior assistant administrators from Mpumalanga's finance department, Dumisane Shipalane and Meshack Nkosi.
Intervention welcomed
In addition to resolving the 2010 investigation, Mpungose's team will focus on getting five of the municipalities key programmes back on track including its transformation and institutional development programme, municipal infrastructure and service delivery, local economic development, good governance and municipal financial viability and management.
Mbombela's most senior surviving politician, council speaker Jimmy Mohlala, welcomed the intervention on Wednesday, saying that he was "happy" that he'd kept his job.
"I look forward to rebuilding Mbombela after so many hardships. Now it's about taking the municipality forward.
"It's not about rumours of vengeance and ulterior motives against certain individuals. We only carry out the mandate of the constitution," said Mohlala.
Mashego-Dlamini said Mpungose would serve as administrator for a period of six months, the end of which the department would review the situation.
She said Nsibande would only be reinstated as mayor if the department was satisfied with the administration.