New Emfuleni mayor’s first slip – controversial MMC appointments
· Citizen
The DA in Gauteng says it is shocked by the redeployment of former Emfuleni mayor Sipho Radebe as the new MMC for Health and Social Development.
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On Thursday, the new mayor of Emfuleni, Hassan Mako announced Radebe as part of the new members of his mayoral committee.
Radebe returns to the top leadership of the municipality despite his party the ANC recalling him as mayor because of service delivery failures.
His resignation also comes after the DA won their first fully black ward in the same municipality.
Radebe resurfaces
The DA’s mayoral candidate, Kingsol Chabalala, told The Citizen on Saturday that Radebe’s appointment on the mayoral committee is an indication that the ANC is not serious about steering the municipality in the right direction.
“The redeployment of Sipho Radebe to the Health and Social Development portfolio exposes the ANC’s culture of rewarding failure instead of enforcing accountability.
“It confirms our view that the change in mayor has not brought about meaningful change in governance.
“The new administration appears to be more concerned with internal ANC arrangements than addressing the real challenges facing Emfuleni residents,” said Chabalala.
Whose mistake was it?
Chabalala said it is also worrying that Bruce Nimmerhout a PA councillor in Rand West Local Municipality has been appointed as an MMC in Emfuleni. He was announced on Thursday as the MMC for Infrastructure, Development and Planning.
“Cllr. Bruce Aldrin Nimmerhoudt of the Patriotic Alliance is a sitting and serving Councillor of Rand West City Local Municipality – and it now appears that he is simultaneously occupying a seat in Emfuleni Council.
“It is illegal for any person to occupy a council seat in two different local municipalities at the same time. But breaking the law, and double-dipping on tax-payer funded salaries, is very on-brand for the PA and the ANC,” he said.
Chabalala said his party will approach the police to investigate possible fraud related to Nimmerhout’s appointment in Emfuleni.
The Citizen contacted Nimmerhout on Saturday, and he told the paper that a mistake had occurred and that he had sent the name of a PA candidate to his coalition partners in Emfuleni to fill that position. He said his name was placed on the list of MMC’s instead.
Nimmerhout confirmed that he is a councillor at the Rand West City Local Municipality. He also said he is not a councillor in Emfuleni.
“The DA must get their facts right before going public. The IEC made an error on their side where they submitted Bruce’s name as he is our IEC liaison for the party with the PR candidate’s details. Everything was done properly on our side, we submitted all the correct information,” PA spokesperson Steve Motale told The Citizen on Saturday.
Mako’s confidence in his appointments
Meanwhile, in his statement on Thursday, Mako said he is confident that he has appointed the right people in the relevant positions.
“I am highly confident that this team consist of men and women, who are highly experienced and have the necessary skills to accelerate the delivery of services for our residents.
“Let me take this opportunity to officially welcome all of them and wish them well in their new responsibilities,” he said.