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BCM Municipality flouting Municipal Structures Act by not providing council minutes

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Dear MyPE

The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) is in contravention of the Municipal Structures Act by not providing minutes for council meetings during which important decisions are taken, such as the passing of the municipal budget.

Since May 2020, when there was an easing of the Covid-19 pandemic national lockdown regulations, BCMM council meetings have been held with councillors and the relevant officials logging in virtually.

The first such council meeting held in BCMM took place on 7 May. Since then, four council meetings have been held, with the focus of the sessions at the end of May and during June being the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes and the passing of the 2020/2021 municipal budget.

The DA caucus in BCMM is very concerned because no minutes have been forthcoming for any of these virtual council meetings.

The minutes for a council meeting held on 26 February are also still outstanding.

Subsequent agendas since 7 May have made no provision for the minutes of the previous meetings to be confirmed and to discuss matters arising from the minutes. Without minutes there is no proof of the discussions held.

Two areas of grave concern have legal implications:

The Municipal Structures Act states that the Integrated Development Plan public participation process should take place over 21 days, but the ANC-led council determined it would be limited to 5 days;
The budget needed a 51% majority of council (51 councillors) to vote in favour for it to be adopted. There is grave doubt that this was attained, due to the number of apologies tendered. Additionally, the 22 DA councillors and 8 EFF councillors dissented on the matter, and no actual vote was taken.

The DA previously sent a letter to the late Speaker, Cllr Alfred Mtsi, prior to him falling ill, regarding this matter, and we have now submitted a formal letter to the City Manager, Mr Andile Sihlahla, in this regard.

We also escalated our concerns regarding the legality of the budget to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. She, in turn, referred the matter to the Eastern Cape MEC for CoGTA, Xolile Nqatha.

The DA will continue to hold the ANC-led council to account, especially when the legal implications of their decisions have direct consequences for the residents of the Metro.

Regards

Cllr Sue Bentley
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

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