Cape Town - Beaufort West mayor Gideon Pietersen (Patriotic Alliance) has accused Local Government MEC Anton Bredell of playing politics after Bredell launched an investigation into the troubled municipality citing complaints about poor governance and service delivery failure.
Launching the investigation on Friday, Bredell said that over the last three months he had received numerous complaints from a wide range of stakeholders in the municipality, including residents, municipal employees, non-governmental organisations, trade unions, civil society groups, the business sector and farmers.
“The call from these complainants is clear: they are asking the province to intervene in the municipality as a matter of urgency to address the service delivery, administrative challenges and financial crises that the municipality faces and is unable to effectively resolve.”
Bredell said he had tasked senior officials from his department to assess and investigate the complaints to determine the extent and veracity of the various crises in the municipality.
He said he was aware of the serious financial problems experienced by the municipality, including its inability to pay its service providers and the instability within the administration.
Pietersen said Bredell was well aware of the recovery plan that the municipality had adopted but was preoccupied with political grandstanding.
“Bredell’s failure to raise these concerns with the municipality first confirms that he has no appetite for resolving them, he just wants to play politics,” said Pietersen.
He said service delivery had been stabilised following the recent appointment of an acting director to run the community services directorate.
Last month, municipal manager Jackson Penxa was placed on special leave for seven days, for allegedly disobeying a direct order from mayor Pietersen to sign the contract for an acting director for community services.
This happened after Bredell had signalled his concern over the appointment of senior managers at the municipality.