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The Ditsobotla Local Municipality in Lichtenburg in the North West.
The North West provincial authorities want the national government to invoke Section 139(7) of the Constitution at the troubled Lichtenburg-based Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
The municipality is currently under mandatory intervention in accordance with Section 139(5) of the Constitution.
However, the entity is still not functioning optimally and cannot meet its statutory obligations of providing services to residents.
The municipal council was dissolved more than two years ago. It was reconstituted at the beginning of 2023, following by-elections in December 2022.
Political, financial instability
The provincial government’s interventions at the municipality have, for more than ten years, failed to solve the problems.
The situation has continued to deteriorate over the years, with the municipality facing challenges like financial mismanagement and political instability, leading to a collapse in basic services.
The longstanding political instability has on several occasions led to the municipality having two mayors, two speakers and two municipal managers.
North West Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Gaoage Molapisi, acknowledged that their interventions have failed to improve the situation, hence they want national government to step in.
“National government must invoke section 139(7) and send an administrator from national (government) because from the province, we have dissolved the municipality, we have done everything. Now we need the national government to move in. But when the national government moves in, like I said, don’t bring an individual to say he or she must come and be a municipal manager or an accounting officer – bring the team, bring the resources, bring everybody so that you can address the problem.”
“Municipalities will not be dissolved”
Earlier this year, the ANC in the North West proposed that the municipality be dissolved and all its areas incorporated into nearby municipalities.
Molapisi also stressed that they are not intending to dissolve any municipality in the province.
“But dissolving it – I don’t think we should take that direction. Like I am saying, unfortunately, the voters will continue to give you the same outcome that they have given us. So, it’s not an option. So far where we are, we are not considering dissolving any municipality, no matter or whatever the problems that are there. That intervention would come as the last resort.”
National government intervention may assist
Lobby group Sakeliga, which has on several occasions taken the Ditsobotla Local Municipality to court over service delivery failures, welcomes the proposal for national government intervention.
A representative from the group, Naude Pienaar, says: “National intervention will only assist us if there is political will to intervene, to place the needs of the community first and to involve local private businesses. The only way that we’re going to get a permanent solution in Ditsobotla is if we get rid of incompetent political appointees, secondly, to involve the private sector and thirdly, to acknowledge that we’ve got problems in Ditsobotla and that we need to continue working together if we want to solve the problems and the challenges.”
Meanwhile, political analyst Dr Arthur Shopola believes that intervention from the national government may stabilise the situation.
“National government has a track record of positive intervention whenever they intervene. They previously did in this province in relation to the provincial administration, and what we saw was a stable government after all. So, we must be hopeful that when it comes to Ditsobotla, the situation will also stabilise politics and administration. I think that the point of departure in this case is that Ditsobotla should actually accept that it is facing a problem and take the injection so that it heals the situation.”
Last month, the municipality cut electricity supply to some businesses, government offices and schools, citing non-payment of electricity debts.
