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Brink plans to tackle Tshwane finances as his first task

New mayor has two weeks to appoint mayoral committee

Nomazima Nkosi Senior reporter
Clink Brink has been elected Tshwane mayor
Clink Brink has been elected Tshwane mayor
Image: Veli Nhlapo

Newly elected mayor of Tshwane Cilliers Brink says his first task is to make sure the municipality get its finances under control.

The embattled municipality has struggled to get its finances in order and struggles to pay contractors within the prescribed 30-day period.

The municipality also incurred R10bn irregular expenditure, something that was red flagged by the Auditor-General in its latest report.

Speaking shortly after beating opponent and Cope councillor Ofentse Moalusi, Brink said the municipality needed to bring its spending in line with what the city can realistically hope to collect.

"This is as important a task as responding to the concerns of the AG and restoring the financial controls that have systematically been broken down or have never existed. In the past three years, a number of factors have combined to have a devastating effect on the city’s financial position and the path of recovery on which we had embarked in the last decade," he said.

Brink was elected by 109 votes compared to Moalusi's 102 votes.

Continuing, he said zero support had been given to local municipalities to cushion them against the effects of load shedding and the collapse of Eskom.

With this in mind, Brink said Tshwane needed to reduce its reliance on Eskom, citing  Western Cape as an example of how this could be done.

"To restore the balance between incomes and expenditures, Tshwane will have to make difficult decisions that we no longer have the luxury to avoid," he said.

Tuesday was council's third attempt at electing a mayor following Dr Murunwa Makwarela's resignation two weeks ago.

Makwarela was sequestrated in 2016 by the North Gauteng High Court and as a result of failing to produce a clearance certificate, should have never been elected a councillor during the November 2021 local government elections.

Following a request by city manager Johann Mettler to produce a clearance certificate, Makwarela submitted a court document that was deemed a fake.

He's currently being investigated.

The special council meeting was punctuated by drama after several caucuses were called by the ANC and EFF.

Just minutes after the meeting started after 10am, the ANC called for a one-hour caucus break. However, when the meeting reconvened an hour later, the EFF called for a two-hour break that was granted by speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana.

Before this, chaos erupted in chambers when the EFF refused to take part in the nomination process until action was taken against the DA's leaders in council.

About two weeks ago, the DA had instructed its 69 councillors to number their ballots using the numbers allocated to them by the party as reassurance of how each individual had voted.

The votes were declared invalid by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), with the EFF opening a case against the DA for transgressing the IEC secret ballot guidelines.

Reacting to the news, DA provincial leader Solly Msimanga said Tshwane had been spared the worst political opportunism that had derailed efforts at a constructive coalition government.

"Instability is the clear objective of the ANC-EFF in opposition, supported by minor parties willing to put opportunism before collaboration to deliver to the residents of the city. Even physical violence has been used by this coalition of corruption to seek the disruption of service delivery focused governance," Msimanga said.

Brink now has just over two weeks to appoint a new mayoral committee as well as table the 2022/2023 adjustment budget as well as the 2023/2024 draft budget ahead of the April 14 deadline set by the provincial treasury.

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