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The DA in the City of Matlosana objects to the 12-month contract appointment of 400 people as general workers with a total financial cost of R40,8 million. The monthly stipend is set at R8,500 per month, but many serve as ANC Ward Committee Members and already receive an R2000 per month stipend from the municipality.

The mass 12-month contract appointments of ANC-aligned individuals is another example of cadre deployment and state capture. The ANC-governed City of Matlosana is in effect acting as a labour broker for ANC cadres.

We have the following concerns:

• The appointments were never considered by Council;
• The positions were not budgeted for in this financial year and would amount to unauthorised expenditure;
• No due diligence nor an affordability study was conducted to justify the appointments;
• The names of appointed individuals were submitted by ANC Councillors;

The ANC-governed Matlosana owes Eskom more than R 1,7 billion and Midvaal Water Board more than R 1,3 billion. One of the prerequisites in the payment agreement with Eskom is that Matlosana should implement cost-cutting measures toward servicing its unpaid debts. Instead, it went on a mass recruitment drive to appoint ANC cadres.

Just a month ago, the North West MEC of Finance, Motlalepula Rosho, promised to implement a Matlosana financial recovery plan that is supposed to be completed in September, but work on the plan has yet to begin.

The DA will write to the Executive Mayor, Cllr James Tsolela, and Municipal Manager Lesego Seametso to reverse these appointments in line with Section 66 of Act 32 of the Municipal Systems Act.

The DA will also, through our DA Caucus Leader in the North West Provincial Legislature, Freddy Sonakile MPL, write to MEC Rosho on the status of the implementation of Matlosana’s financial recovery plan and whether the appointment of 400 contract workers can be justified considering the financial collapse the municipality is facing. We expect MEC Rosho to intervene to reverse this mass recruitment drive.

We will also report these appointments to the Auditor-General so that it may be recorded in the annual audit report as unauthorised expenditure and report the matter to the Office of the Public Protector to investigate this gross abuse of public resources towards advancing an ANC party political agenda.

Issued by Cllr Johannes Le Grange - DA Caucus Leader: City of Matlosana