Minister Pravin Gordhan condemns chaos in Oudtshoorn Municipal Council

1 July 2015

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs COGTA Minister Pravin Gordhan strongly condemns the chaos and intimidation that erupted at the Oudtshoorn Municipal council meeting yesterday.

It was a meeting where the councillors were supposed to have decided on a budget for the 2015/16 financial year by midnight. The council did not pass the budget, which constitutes a violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003).

Chaos erupted after the budget was not decided upon. Council members were held hostage by a group of people for two hours. This is the third time that the municipal council has failed to decide on the municipality’s financial plan owing to the apparent unhappiness by councillors with the municipal management and council leadership.

Minister Gordhan and the MEC responsible for Local Government in the Western Cape, Mr Bredell, have engaged with the municipality on the challenges facing it and also proposed a “Support and Good Governance” package, which the municipality has failed to adopt. Further steps are now being considered in order to regularize the functionality of the municipality.

Statement issued by Tsakane Baloyi, Department of Cooperative Governance, July 1 2015