COSATU NORTHERN CAPE STATEMENT ON THE RE-APPOINTMENT OF THE SOL PLAATJIE MUNICIPAL MANAGER

The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Northern Cape wishes to congratulate the Municipal Manager of Sol Plaatjie, Goolam Akhawaray on the renewal of his contract for the next four years. It is our sincere hope and trust that the council has not committed a mistake by renewing his contract in a quest to restore the lost dignity of that municipality.

Mr Akhawaray has contributed to the improvement of the financial situation of Sol Plaatjie and rescued the municipality from the traditional disclaimers that it used to receive before his arrival. However we hope that he will accept the appointment even if it is on a lesser remuneration because we are of the view that his skills and expertise are needed to better the lives of the working class people and the poor.

It is important to remind Mr Akhawaray that he has a mammoth task of reading Sol Plaatjie Municipality of the high levels of incompetency, corruption and nepotism. It is high time that he elevates himself from the corrupt system of that municipality and start acting on lazy and incompetent managers. We will continue to blame him as the accounting officer on all the things that go wrong in that municipality and he will bear the brunt of any lack of action.

We will continue to pursue the important issues that we have raised with him on a number of instances. We will continue to oppose the denial of the people of their basic services as a result of their inability to pay as a consequence of their social standing.

We call on the Municipal Manager to make public the policies of the municipality in relation to service delivery so that the members of the public including stakeholders can make inputs for consideration.

Mr Akhawaray's contract is renewed at the most challenging time when Sol Plaatjie Municipality is plagued by a number of challenges that need thorough investigation and action. We were faced with a crisis of water and before that was over a tragedy at the Homevale Sewage Plant befell five workers who were employed by the municipality. It is therefore our considered view that his first task after the contract renewal is to ensure that he institutes thorough investigations with the purpose of acting on anyone found guilty if wrongdoing in the process.

Statement issued by COSATU Northern Cape Provincial Secretary, Anele Gxoyiya, November 9 2012

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