Sthembiso Mthembu has been tasked with implementing a recovery plan for the Impendle Local Municipality
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has placed the Impendle Local Municipality under constitutional intervention in a move aimed at restoring governance, financial stability and accountability.
The intervention follows a resolution taken by the Provincial Executive Council last week to invoke Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution after ongoing governance and financial management concerns were identified within the municipality.
According to COGTA, the municipality failed to meet several executive and statutory obligations, prompting the provincial government to step in. Among the concerns raised were the municipality’s inability to maintain a stable and functional council, including the failure to elect a mayor and sustain effective oversight structures.
The department also cited the municipality’s failure to appoint a suitably qualified acting chief financial officer during a prolonged vacancy period, as well as its inability to implement consequence management measures related to unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
