The North West government has threatened to dissolve municipal councils blocking administrators from doing their job. This could be a tricky exercise as the decision will have to be endorsed by the African National Congress (ANC) in the North West.
There is currently no provincial structure in place since the disbandment of the Provincial Task Team.
Kagisano-Molopo in Ganyesa, JB Marks in Potchefstroom and Ditsobotla in Lichtenburg are some of the embattled municipalities challenging the intervention. Some administrators have been sent packing and barred from setting foot at the councils.
Eric Matlawe, administrator at Ditsobotla Municipality, says some councils are not accepting the intervention.
“There’s been a lot of obstacles since April. The main problem is that some of the councils have not been able to accept there’s intervention.”
Eleven months since stripping the councils of their powers, the provincial government appears to have its back against the wall. Premier Spokesperson, Vuyisile Ngesi, says that they might have to look into dissolving councils.
“Where there’s resistance, we need to also take a step and see what exactly the cause of the resistance is. We have already found what is the root cause. At some point, we need to look at the possibility of invoking section 139C, which is basically the dissolution.”
The decision will have to be endorsed by the party, but there’s no provincial structure in place. Some believe it could be part of a fight-back campaign.
Professor Andre Duvunhage, Political Analyst from the North West University, says the situation may lead to a revolt.
“We can basically talk about the revolt, or a revolution coming from within the ANC addressed against the provincial government, in a way is another form of a fight of the Supra Mahumapelo group and Job Mokgoro on the line.”
With politicians and officials failing to see eye to eye, residents bear the brunt as they wait for services.
