MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

DA overcomes abuse of power in Emalahleni Municipality

By

Dear MyPE

Three months after the announcement of the local government election results the Democratic Alliance has succeeded to overcome an abuse of power by claiming our rightful seat allocation on the ANC-dominated executive committee of the Emalahleni municipal council (Lady Frere, Dordrecht and Indwe).

The DA grew its representation from one councillor to four and as such was entitled to a seat on the executive committee of the council (Exco), according to Section 43 of the Municipal Structures Act and Section 160 (8) of the Constitution, 1996.

After various efforts from local DA-councillor Pieter Greyling to try and convince the ANC leadership in the council that their seat calculation and allocation was wrongfully excluding the DA from rightfully occupying a seat on the executive, he contacted me for assistance.  For his letter, click here.

As a member of Eastern Cape Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), I wrote to the chairperson of the committee, Mninawa Nyusile but received no response.  I then wrote to Cogta MEC Fikile Xasa, for an investigation into the calculation of votes in proportion to the seat allocations.  For my letter, click here.

The DA welcomes MEC Xasa’s recommendation that the municipality’s leadership must include an opposition member on its exco. As a caring party that values fairness and accountability, we are optimistic about the future of our province, confident in the belief that we can root out corruption and deliver change that will improve the lives of our people.

Our local and provincial team will now monitor the implementation of the MEC’s recommendation.  We expect our representative to rightfully occupy the seat within 14 working days as from 31 October 2016, as per the letter signed by the MEC.  For his letter, click here.

In DA-run municipalities, we bring freedom, fairness and opportunity for all.  We are accountable, transparent and effective in delivering quality services.

Regards

Kobus Botha, MPL

The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.