Cape Town - There was no intention to place the Matatiele municipality in the Eastern Cape, which blew about R1 million on a strategic workshop in Durban, under administration.
This was according to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Thembi Nkadimeng, when she was responding to EFF MP Babalwa Mathulelwa.
Mathulelwa enquired about when the Matatiele Municipality, and other Eastern Cape municipalities that failed to deliver services to residents, would be placed under administration.
The Matatiele Municipality hogged headlines in February after it was reported that it spent about R1 million on an annual strategic planning workshop in Durban.
It was reported that the councillors travelled to Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban, for their workshop at the Garden Court Hotel for five days.
Apparently, a total of 108 rooms were booked, at R1 500 a day, not including catering.
There were also reports that the 54 councillors and some of their staff could each claim travelling cost up to R3 000.
In her written response, Nkadimeng said according to the information received from the Eastern Cape government, there was no intention by the executive council of the provincial government to place Matatiele Municipality under administration.
“There is no intention to place any other municipality in the Eastern Cape under administration.
“It must be noted that the department and provincial government have a constitutional mandate to provide support to municipalities so that they can deliver services to their communities,” she said.
“It is acknowledged that there are a plethora of challenges that municipalities are confronted with, which have a negative bearing on the delivery of services to communities, such circumstances warrant that the provincial government provides support to municipalities.
“On the basis of what has been outlined, there is therefore no intention to place municipalities under administration but to provide the necessary support that will unblock bottlenecks and enhance service delivery,” Nkadimeng said.
Cape Times