Makana's Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart has until tomorrow to save her job, as the ANC prepares for a regional summit to target problem hotspots in the embattled municipality.
Makana's Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart has until tomorrow to save her job, as the ANC prepares for a regional summit to target problem hotspots in the embattled municipality.
Baart was given what insiders say are effectively her marching orders at a special council meeting in the Council Chamber last Friday. She was given seven days to provide the Council's Mayoral Committee with a written motivation as to why she should not be suspended, in the light of repeated poor audit results.
While there have been calls for Baart's resignation in recent months, this is the first official indication that her position is in question. In February Grocott's Mail reported that following grievances about Baart, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) demanded that Mayor Zamuxolo Peter dismiss her within a week.
And in November, UPM leader Ayanda Kota questioned the suspension of the suspended Chief Financial Officer, Jackson Ngcelwane, saying he didn't understand why the Chief Financial Officer had been the only official suspended. He suggested that the Municipal Manager's performance, too, should be under scrutiny.
The MM is the accounting officer, it makes her accountable for all transactions, Kota said at the time. She establishes policies and processes to ensure efficient management of Makana, and to achieve an unqualified audit opinion.
But the Democratic Alliance in the council is opposing the move, saying it is politically motivated. DA councillor Les Reynolds said Baart was very knowledgeable and that she had warned the council many times that she could not run the municipality without proper management. “She knows what she is doing,” he said.
Reynolds said Baart lacked political support in the council. “The ruling party must have someone in mind to put in her position,” said Reynolds. He said the Makana municipality was short of managers, referring in particular to the suspension of the Chief Financial Officer. In addition to her duties as municipal manager, Baart is also acting director of Technical and Infrastructural Services after Dabula Njilo resigned from the post last year.
Baart declined to comment on her possible imminent suspension. According to African National Congress chairperson in the sub-region, Mncedisi Bhoma, the party's Makana branches will meet next Saturday (14 April) to discuss technical services and infrastructure in the ANC-run municipality.
"We want to find out what is the problem with the municipality receiving a disclaimer opinion for a while now. We are going to discuss what is the action plan and what we have to do as we want to receive a clean audit by 2014," Bhoma said.
Troubled times in the hot seat
2006: Makana Municipality fails to renew the contract of former Municipal Manager, Pravine Naidoo, who had spent six years in the job. Makana waited 10 months to get a replacement for Naidoo after he took the Makana council to various courts in an attempt to regain his job, unsuccessfully.
He argued that he had been investigating allegations of maladministration involving former mayor Phumelelo Kate and that Kate had been aware of this. Naidoo is now based in Paarl, in the Western Cape, and is the Chairperson of the Institute for Local Government Management of South Africa's regulatory and professionalisation committee.
2008: New Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart reported for duty at the beginning of September. The municipality had been without a manager since November 2007. Former Makana mayor Phumelelo Kate was convinced that appointing Baart was not a mistake. Addressing a media briefing in the municipality's Council Chamber after the appointment of Baart, Kate said he was elated after the municipality's selection panel recommended Baart for the municipal manager's position because he knew her and had confidence in her skills. "She is not only a woman, she is a qualified person with experience and skills," he said. At the briefing, Baart commended municipal officials for a job well done while they were without leadership.
2011: The leader of the Unemployed People's Movement, Ayanda Kota calls for Baart's suspension. Kota said the UPM, representing the unemployed and poor people in the area, did not understand why the Chief Financial Officer, Jackson Ngcelwane, was the only official suspended in May, suggesting that the Municipal Manager's performance, too, should be under scrutiny.
The MM is the accounting officer, it makes her accountable for all transactions, Kota said. 2012: Makana Mayor, Zamuxolo Peter, is told by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) that he should dismiss Baart.
March 2012: ANC caucus speaker, Vuyani Kolisi, gives Baart seven days to write a motivation why she should not be suspended after concern over yet another audit disclaimer opinion.
