The new administrator and the mayor both agree that a back to basic approach and working with the existing team within the municipality should be the starting point for turning around Makana.
The new administrator and the mayor both agree that a back to basic approach and working with the existing team within the municipality should be the starting point for turning around Makana.
Makana Municipality's newly-appointed administrator Pamela Yako believes that the turnaround will have to come from the inside.
Yako's introduction to Council on Wednesday ended weeks of speculation.
Advocate Nkokheli Vuba, standing in for Local Government MEC Fikile Xasa, formally introduced the former Grahamstown resident on Wednesday this week.
In front of Makana Council and officials, Vuba outlined the terms of reference in Yako's contract with the department.
These included facilitating the appointment of a municipal manager and overseeing credit control and revenue collection.
"She will be here for six months subject to a review," Vuba said. "She is a child of Grahamstown so we believe she will do justice in fixing her home."
Yako's previous jobs include serving as municipal manager at Amathole District Municipality, working for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and serving as director-general of the Department of Water Affairs.
She was suspended from the latter post in 2008 following allegations of financial irregularities. Yako said she had no illusions that the job of administrator would be easy.
"I offer my commitment in the time I will be here… it'll require arm-twisting to restore Makana to where it used to be. I do have a reputation of tending to move things faster than they should be… there is not a lot you can do in six months but at the same time there is a lot we can do in six months depending on the pace and the environment," she said.
She said the turnaround that is happening in Makana is not going to come from the outside but the solution will be from the inside; hence working as a collective is important.
"I have read some reports from the department and I have also read some media reports (about Makana), but I haven't really engaged with the people, primarily within the municipality and the leadership to get their perspective in terms of what the challenges are."
Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter said he had to come to the council meeting although he was currently injured.
"I had to come so that the new administrator Pam Yako will feel welcome. Makana has been receiving disclaimers without any consequences and we hope that we can work together in fixing that," he said.
The Democratic Alliance reacted negatively to the news of Yako's appointment on Wednesday.
In a statement DA Frontier Constituency Leader Andrew Whitfield said Yako had been appointed to save the floundering local municipality.
"This appointment will not fill the residents of Makana with confidence nor will it inspire hope in a speedy resolution to the maladministration in the municipality," he said.
Whitfield noted that Yako was suspended from her position as the DG of Water Affairs in 2009 after a damning report by the Auditor General exposed over R1 billion in irregular expenditure under her watch, adding that at the time, the DA called for the Minister of Water Affairs to lay charges against Yako.
She was eventually dismissed from the department.
Whitfield said the DA has been calling for Makana Municipality to be placed under administration for over a year, and "Now that it has finally been placed under administration, the MEC sees it fit to appoint a civil servant who has a tainted track record of financial administration to fix a municipality that is in financial distress".
The DA has taken the matter a step further by writing a letter to Local Government Minister Pravin Gordhan to notify him about it and to raise their concerns about it.
"It is now clear that the ANC led Provincial Government is not serious about saving Makana Municipality from complete collapse," Whitfield said.
