Cabinet has final say on dissolving municipalities, says Dlamini Zuma

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said there are checks and balances to prevent CEMs from abusing their powers by dissolving municipalities.

Some municipalities have been put under administration because they are in great financial difficulty.

However, some parties felt that the ANC’s infighting led to the dissolution of some municipalities for political purposes.

The National Assembly’s committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs said in July that it supported the Cabinet’s decision to dissolve 45 dysfunctional municipalities across the country.

One of the measures required is that they must make representations to the Minister of Co-operative Governance and to Cabinet before such a decision is made.

She explained that in terms of the approval requirements of Article 139 of the Constitution, the Minister exercises the power assigned to him to approve or disapprove the intervention invoked by the Provincial Executive Council if the municipality does not cannot or does not fulfill an executive obligation under the Constitution or legislation.

“The approvals of the interventions are based on sufficient evidence of the breaches of the executive duties of the municipality.

“The approvals are also based on the decision of the Provincial Executive Council to intervene in the affairs of the municipality only in the event of a breach of any executive duty by the municipality,” said Dlamini Zuma.

“Section 139 (2) (a) (i) of the Constitution provides checks and balances in the sense that” If a provincial executive intervenes under subsection (1) (b), it must submit a written notice of intervention to the cabinet member responsible for local administration affairs ”.

“Under Article 139 (2) (b), the intervention must end if the member of Cabinet responsible for local government affairs disapproves of the intervention within 28 days of the start of the intervention, or the end of this period had not approved the intervention.

“Likewise, Article 139 (3) (a) (i) of the Constitution provides that” if a municipal council is dissolved under paragraph (1) (c), the provincial executive shall immediately submit a written notice from the dissolution to the member of the Cabinet in charge of local administration affairs ”.

“Pursuant to Article 139 (3) (b), the dissolution takes effect 14 days from the date of receipt of the notice by the city council, unless it is canceled by the member of the Cabinet responsible for the local government before the expiration of these 14 days.

“These mechanisms aim to provide for the correct invocation and application of article 139 of the Constitution,” said Dlamini Zuma.

POLITICAL OFFICE