Komani declares a legal war against ‘rogue’ councillors after years of service delivery failure

KOMANI, SOUTH AFRICA ñ JANUARY 27: Thousands of residents take part in a protest march against the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality on January 27, 2023 in Komani, South Africa. It is reported that the group marched against poor service delivery and dilapidated infrastructure. (Photo by Gallo images/Die Burger/Lulama Zenzile)

By Estelle Ellis

17 Nov 2024

Residents of the Eastern Cape town are fed up with having an inept and possibly corrupt council ignoring their needs.

In damning papers before court, residents and several administrators from Komani (formerly Queenstown) in the Eastern Cape have warned both the provincial and national governments that the town council has “gone rogue” and is determined to continue its “unlawful activity”.

Both national and provincial governments have admitted in the past that the “attitude” and strategies adopted by the council led to service delivery in the town being an abject failure. Komani is a strategic commercial hub in the central Eastern Cape.

Papers before the court state that despite both governments’ attempts to implement financial recovery plans, all have failed.

The situation is so dire that the administrators say in their reports that the municipality has been infiltrated by “an apparent” criminal element from inside and out, and the council refuses to be held accountable. As a result, the dysfunctionality has been allowed to continue.

Komani residents asked the High Court in Makhanda on 14 November to dissolve their municipal council and appoint a competent administrator. The struggling town has been buckling under weeks of power outages.

The case cites President Cyril Ramaphosa, Eastern cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, among other government respondents.

A letter signed by Godongwana has been placed before court in which he complains that the council is openly defying the orders from the government-appointed administrator. For example, the council gave municipal workers a 5% raise, which the administrator was instructed to have interdicted and set aside as unlawful.

Read more: Komani residents threaten total shutdown, demanding the dissolution of ‘failed’ Enoch Mgijima municipality

In papers before court, Treasury director-general Dr Duncan Pieterse says he wishes to respond to false allegations that Komani mayor Madoda Papiyana makes in the council’s papers opposing the case.

Papiyana claims Treasury “didn’t include” the latest recovery plan in its correspondence to the council. Pieterse says this is untrue and Treasury has even made a presentation on the plan at the mayor’s behest. He says the council is “openly negative” about a national intervention and there is a deliberate attempt to create confusion and, at times, “active resistance” to it.

Papiyana also claims that the council had no choice but to implement a salary increase for municipal employees, but Pieterse says this too is sorely misguided.

Administrators also highlight that there is an estimated 30% overpayment of employees because of ghost workers, incorrect grading and overtime. They say the town suffers from an electricity crisis; roads damaged by use and floods not having been fixed; woeful revenue collection; only 55% of residents having access to waste removal services; and water outages that last days or weeks at a time.

Komani Komani residents march against the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality on 27 January 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile)

‘Serious breach’

Ken Clarke, the owner of Komani-based soft drink manufacturer Twizza, and a civic organisation called The Independents are leading the charge. “That the municipality faces multiple crises is beyond dispute,” Clarke says in his affidavit. “It is in serious breach of its obligations to provide basic services and meet its financial commitments.”

Clarke says it is vital to the residents of Komani that the order be granted so that the “long, slow but absolutely essential process of repairing the harm that was done by the municipal council” can begin.

He says several representatives of both the provincial and national governments have pointed out that the council, dominated by ANC councillors, has deliberately obstructed the implementation of a recovery plan. They have given themselves salary increases and issued tenders without authority or approval, and have also failed to approve a budget or revenue-raising strategy. He says it is clear that the council is misappropriating money due to Eskom for “salaries and benefits”.

Read more: Unrest erupts in Komani in Eastern Cape over rolling blackouts

The council has not approved a funded budget in five years. Clark says it is also appointing senior managers and other employees unlawfully. Even though this was pointed out by the first administrator appointed, nothing has been done to stop it.

He says there have been several warnings to the council that provincial and national governments will dissolve it if there is no improvement, but this has yielded no results.

In fact, he adds, the municipality is going backwards, pointing out that in 2022, when one of the financial recovery plans was implemented, the municipality owed Eskom R345-million. Now it owes R1-billion.

The national Department of Cooperative Governance placed the municipality under administration in 2023, but officials went to court to try to stop the administrator from “interfering” in their activities. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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‘Serious breach’