ANOTHER KZN municipality has been forced to hand over its powers to the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.
Emadlangeni Municipality, which has its seat in Utrecht, near Newcastle was on Friday placed under administration by MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
This follows the council’s alleged failure to perform its service delivery duties to the residents of Utrecht and surrounding areas.
According to Dube-Ncube, the municipality was operating like a banana republic as there was no observance of the rule of law.
She blamed the problems in the municipality on political infighting, which resulted in bad decisions by the council.
“They suspended the municipal manager and appointed an acting manager who doesn’t meet the requirements of the position.”
She said the department will come up with a recovery plan.
“The administrator’s plan must include securing the municipality’s ability to meet its obligations to provide basic services,” said Dube-Ncube.
Newly elected mayor Lindiwe Mhlungu said she didn’t know what prompted the MEC’s decision as the municipality was running smoothly.
She said for the past four months they have provided better services to all their wards
and have listened to what people want.
“All the allegations are not true. Our council sits every week to see which tasks need to be prioritised.
“We’re new, but we have delivered to our residents,” said Mhlungu.
This is the third municipality in KZN to be put under administration since the local government election that was held in August last year.
The municipalities of Nquthu and Umzinyathi have also had their powers taken away.
