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The newly elected council for the Newcastle Municipality was scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, 17 November 2021. A meeting intended to set the tone for Newcastle and its newly elected leadership.
However, due to apparent unforeseen circumstances, the Newcastle Municipality, along with Dannhauser and Utrecht Municipalities, have postponed the meeting to Monday, 22 November 2021.
In light of the meeting’s postponement for another week, the Newcastillian – Online News spoke to local politicians concerning the delay.
Bertie Meiring of the Democratic Alliance (DA), says “We don’t know why the meeting was postponed because we weren’t given any reason.”
However, the DA councillor points out that this is not the first time such a postponement has occurred in Newcastle. “The same thing happened five years ago. We just hope it’s not a political party pressuring someone to postpone it.”
Cllr Meiring expresses his hope that the upcoming inaugural meeting will not be postponed again. “We don’t have a council right now, and we can’t run the town without one, so it can’t be postponed again.”
Shedrack Musa Thwala of Team Sugar South Africa (TSSA) expresses his displeasure with the postponement, describing it as delay tactics. “This is the second time it’s been postponed,” he emphasises.
The problem with postponing the meeting, according to Cllr Thwala, is that the IEC has given municipalities a deadline to meet. If the deadline is not met, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) steps in, and the municipality may be placed under administration, or by-elections may be held.
With this in mind, Cllr Thwala explains that TSSA is taking precautions to prevent this from happening.
Furthermore, he expresses dissatisfaction with how the situation is being handled. “We received an SMS. We must be respected and sent emails in accordance with the proper protocols.”
Reflecting on the matter, Faizel Cassim of ActionSA points out, “We accepted the invites for the inaugural meeting that was initially meant to take place on 10 November 2021. Then the meeting was moved to 17 November 2021. Now, the meeting has been moved to 22 November 2021.”
In light thereof, Cassim says he believes the organisers of the event need to be more professional. This, especially as they are dealing with members of the public and councillors who have allocated their time from their schedules to the respective dates.
“They should view the meeting as they would a business appointment,” he declares.
However, Dr Koos Vorster of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) believes the postponement is a security measure rather than a delay tactic.
“The Newcastle Municipality has until 23 November, and after the issues other municipalities faced at their inaugural meetings, I think they want to ensure all security measures are in place.”
Dr Vorster explains that by doing so, the meeting cannot be jeopardised.
What are your thoughts in light of this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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