KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nomusa Dube-Ncube met with uThungulu District Municipality and its local municipalities to iron out challenges of the demarcation process when Ntambanana is disestablished later this year.
Ntambanana Municipality will exist until September and its wards will merge with the uMhlathuze, Mthonjaneni and uMfolozi municipalities.
The meeting was held in Richards Bay on Tuesday to address all outstanding matters to ensure a smooth transition for the merger after local government elections in August.
Attended by mayors, municipal managers, councillors, managers, traditional leaders and members of the Change Management Committees(CMC), the discussions shed light on changes on human resources, branding, budgets and by-laws.
The number of municipalities in the province will decrease from 61 to 54 after this year’s elections.
Dube said the work that is expected to be done by the councillors and new municipalities must be made clear.
‘Splitting or merging municipalities will have to seek written authority from the MEC before making new appointments.
‘There will be no new appointments, loans taken and no burden of new contracts.’
She warned that any contracts signed without the CMC are not valid.
‘We are also working together with municipalities on the ground rather than merely monitoring and overseeing their activities from afar.
‘We will introduce champions from our department linked to each district to capacitate them and ensure they adhere to compliance and are accountable,’ said Dube-Ncube.
