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People’s Legislature Embarrassed to debate DA motion on ward committees

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This week’s annual “Taking Legislature to the People” in Cofimvaba will not debate the DA motion on illegal ward committee elections for fear of publically embarrassing the ruling party.

The motion, which was tabled and accepted in September by the Legislature for debate, is intended to nullify the plethora of illegal ward committee elections currently taking place in the province.

The current ward committee election fiasco in the Nelson Mandela Metro illustrates the urgency of this matter to be resolved as soon as possible.

Due to the time sensitivity of this motion and the current ward committee election processes, it is imperative that this motion be debated during this week and while ward election processes are still underway in the province.

This concern was brought to the attention of the Legislature ANC Chief Whip, Humphrey Maxegwana, orally by me at the time of tabling the motion and in a subsequent letter to the Speaker and Chief Whip.

The lack of action by the MEC of Local Government in the Province, the Speaker and Chief Whip to have this motion debated could be construed as condoning irregular and illegal ward governance practices by the ruling party.

The longer the delay in debating this motion, the harder it will be to reverse the irregular election processes taking place.

Furthermore, this will lead to irregular expenditure on behalf of municipalities where ward committee members who receive R1 000 per month were not democratically elected during this process.

In terms of Rule 133 of the Legislature, motions must be debated within 10 sitting days of tabling.

The excuse given at the multi party whips meeting as to why the motion could not be debated was that the programme is full.

This is a weak excuse.

If the ANC was serious about maintaining the rule of law and transparent accountable governance, then a plan would be made to have this motion debated during this week’s plenary.

The only other opportunity to debate this motion will be during the annual report debate end November.

The DA will be monitoring this situation and should the motion not be dealt with within the 10-day sitting period as stated in the Rules of the Legislature, the matter will be referred to the Public Protector and Auditor General for further investigation.

Regards

Dacre Haddon, MPL

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.